


Sacrificial Lamb

by SouthernLolita



Series: GamaFrost Tales [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types, Thor - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Bruce, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, Beauty and the Beast Elements, Don't Like Don't Read, Feels, I'm an artist and I'm sensitive about my shit, M/M, No Beta, Omega Loki, Omega Verse, Rating May Change, Tags May Change, grammar nazis stay home, may have errors, read it!, tribal au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-13
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-20 02:25:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 43,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5988912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SouthernLolita/pseuds/SouthernLolita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loki never was his tribe’s favorite, so he shouldn’t have been surprised when he found him self tied to steak to be scarified to the beast of the jungle. Still, a little warning would have been nice. Now he’s going to be eaten by a green giant who roams the dark recesses of the forest. He really hopes it’s over fast because he’s about to go into heat and something about being molested by a monster doesn’t sound appealing.</p><p>As it, turns out legends are not always true, and beasts are not always ‘dull creatures’.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Story Art

I would like to welcome you all to my newest Gama Frost work! For those of you who read Glorious Purpose and voted for this one - thank you so much for your continued support! For any new readers - thank you for checking this out and I hope you enjoy it!  
  
Side note, this fic is largely inspired by the song - Monster by Imagine Dragons. When I think about my fics before I write them I often see, ‘film trailers’ (if that makes sense), in my head. For some reason that song kind among a few others came to mind.  This work is also inspired by the Tale - Beauty and the Beast. So there is some similar elements, but I feel that it is far enough removed from the original fairy tale. I hope you all enjoy the read.  
  
Art Below 


	2. Chapter 1 - The Trickster

“LOKI!”  
  
Well that did not bode well.  
  
 At the same time however, hearing his name shouted in rage was almost satisfying. A sick wonderful little trill that gave him a sense of accomplishment. The omega would rock back on his heels and fight to hide the massive grin from splitting his face. It was just a bit of mischief; really, they should all thank him for lightening their days!   
  
All that boring labor out in the fields, or hunting in the forests. Boring… and the other omegas- do not even get him started. Always sewing hides or painting beads, some silly little task that a child could have accomplished. Loki hated it, he was a prince! He always felt he was different from them, never quiet able to fit in the right way. He was often ill as a child, the summers sweltering heat had never agreed with him. Not like the other village children who loved the sunshine. It was just another reason Loki did not fit in.   
  
Being the chieftain’s son afforded him some exceptions but not many, mostly just a haven away from the other children’s taunts. Loki would gorse over his misfortune - some good his position was, even with his father’s power over the tribe of Asgard that did not mean the sons of Odin were spoiled. Or so Odin said, Loki long felt his Alpha brother was favored over him. Thor was the first son, like some shining pinnacle of all things strong and noble. The blond could no wrong in the eyes of their people. It was sickening.   
  
_“Thor’s so strong.”_  
  
 _“Thor’s so handsome”_  
  
Loki would roll his eyes at the omegas pouring praise on the blonde oaf. The omega knew he could have very well fought alongside his brother if given the chance. Alas, this was the life of the protected.  Loki sometimes mused that he would have rather been born beta, like Badlr. His older brother who had all the beauty of an omega yet none of its stigma.   
  
Badlr had left the tribe months ago; he wanted to see some place new. Loki envied that freedom, the freedom to be ‘ordinary’. He could have done as he liked and no one would bat an eye. Even when the middle son of the Chieftain left no one spoke of it. Every time Thor when out with the hunting party the unbound omegas would gather at the village gates singing there farewells. It was just disgusting. 

* * *

“How many times have I told you about playing these tricks?” Frigga scowled and drug her youngest by his ear. “Do you find this funny? Dishonoring the warriors so! I thought you better Loki.”   
  
Loki hissed and tugged out of her hold rubbing at his now ruby earlobe. Before him, three alphas stood with equally annoyed faces as they held up their leathers showing the rear and front cut out of them.  
  
The ravenette folded his arms petulantly, “I thought they might move better.”  
  
Sif growled taking a step forward. “Stupid bitch I don’t care if you are a royal! You should be whipped bloody for this! ”    
  
Fandral held out his arm to stop the woman, “Sif, his highness is just childish that is with in his nature. Perhaps the better suggestion- if I may be so bold, Queen Frigga, is perhaps if Loki was given to a suitable Alpha then his attitude might improve.  
  
Loki rolled his eyes; yes, Fandral would suggest that wouldn’t he. The lecher had been following the young prince around like a milk hungry pup ever since Loki’s first heat. 

“I value the suggestion Fandral; However, I do not feel my son is ready for that yet. He is nonetheless, going to mend all of your garments himself as penance.” Frigga said, taking the ruined leathers and thrusting them into Loki’s hands.   
  
As with most of Loki’s pranks’ he thought this would be the end of it, so he would have to patch the leathers, no one said he couldn’t use some ridiculously bright dyed skins for the patch. There was still some mischief to be had yet. How he would love to see Sif scowl as she paraded around with showy yellow dyed crotch and backside.  He found himself snickering at the prospect.   
  
Unfortunately, this would not end as it usually had. Because that night everything would change.

* * *

  
  
The tribe of Asgard was powerful, they had enough strong men that they did not have to build their homes of earth and thatch, but could mortar stones and clay. The Alphas would take their horses out into the forests to cut down great trees to fortify the walls, they were far more advanced than the clans to the south who lived by the sea in there Cliffside caves, or the tribes to the north in there hollowed out cavers of ice.   
  
There was perhaps one thing that the kinsman of Asgard feared, and that was a legend of the forest.  
  
 It was said that there in the deep dense wood a creature lurked, as tall as two men and wide as three. It had skin the color of summer leaves and a roar that could spit stones. Hunters had claimed to see massive cracks in the earth and destroyed trees - testament to the monsters temper.   
  
The tribe believed that the monster was a bad omen, that if it should be seen then surely they would all suffer.  They had to appease the creature to keep it away. Naturally, to show respect as they would their gods the people called for sacrifice. However, unlike the pyre where lambs were brought to have, their throats slashed and bodies burned. The monster would require something more precious.   
  
Human sacrifice.   
  
Loki vaguely remembered when he was a child. There had been a woman he did not remember her name. She was an omega; her father was one of Odin’s generals. The people had selected her because she was…difficult. Willful was the word wasn’t it? No one had said that was why but Loki was smart even then. He knew the selection ritual was little more than a farce. A way to remove blame from any one man. The They took her and bound her hands, the warriors then lead the sacrifice her out into the deep forest and…well he didn’t know what they did there. Did they kill her? On the other hand, did the beast take her right away?   
  
Macabre thoughts for a child, but then again Loki always did like things that were different.   
  
As he grew up and time passed, young prince never thought much about this old memory.  The beast had not been seen for many years. IT would appear that the sacrifice had worked to protect the tribes of Asgard.   
  
That was, until now.

* * *

  
It was the dead of night when the horns sounded, followed by a great roar. Loki tumbled out of his bed from the sound; He struck the floor and groaned, damning the wretched wail of the warning call for interrupting his sleep. That was where he sat in a daze rubbing his head when his brother ran into his room.   
  
“Brother! Come with me now, get up!” Thor shouted and grabbed him by the arm.   
  
Loki shouted as he was hauled up and out of the bedchamber. “What’s going on, unhand me!”  
  
“Loki be still! The monster is approaching the village you must go, hide with mother and the others.”   
  
The ravenette pulled away, “No, Give me a sword I can fight and you know it! Why should I huddle in the dark when I could protect myself.”  
  
“I will not ask you again go!” Thor growled.  
  
The older Alphas scent cowing him to shrink back, Loki hated that, he wanted to have more control over his own body.    
  
“Loki. Please.” his brother urged once more scenting the omegas hesitance at the show of dominance.   
  
Loki stalked past with his head down, he would go but he did not have to like it. 

* * *

  
The next morning the village was a flurry of talk, the family heads were clamoring to be heard by their chieftain.   
  
“It’s back! What can we do! For now it remains in the forest, what if it comes to the gates?”  
  
“The archers have said their arrows are useless, and the creature is too strong even for Asgard’s finest warriors!”   
  
“I will not send my sons to die! We must give the beast what it wants!”   
  
“Sacrifice!”   
“Sacrifice!”  
“Sacrifice!”  
“Sacrifice!”  
  
“ENOUGH!” Odin struck his staff on the meeting hall floor. “If there is to be a sacrifice a selection will be made. Gather with your kin and at the dead of night, you will send your eldest Alpha heir to place your mark on the door of the house. Should yours be the chosen one you - will give one of your unmated omegas for the sacrifice. May the gods be with you this night.”  He dismissed the clans with a strike of his staff; he had to give them what they wanted if he hoped to keep peace.   
  
Odin did not agree with the practice, but it had been in place since the time of his father. The monster of the deep wood was a like a god, though it was not worshiped the tribe respected its strength and feared its wrath. For the creature’s presence, also dissuaded any of their enemies from approaching through the forests.   
  
As a leader, one must make difficult choices. Odin would forever remember the screams of the first young omega he had seen carted into the brush.  He remembers his father bringing him into the great hall before a sacrifice. The old Chieftain had looked into the eyes of the warriors, each and every one until he found one that he would give the knife. ‘Like the lambs.’ he would say, closing his large fist over the warriors.  
  
When the party came back, his Father would take that warrior aside and sit them down in the front room of the chiefs own home. The chieftain would bring a bowl of water and silently wash his warrior’s hands. He would say, ‘this sin is no longer yours, it was for the good of the tribe. This sin is mine.”   
  
The first time Odin had to send a selection the warrior had been a young woman, her name was Natasha. He had seen that look in her eyes, the look of one who could kill. When he washed her hands, she shook her head and told him ‘no, water will wash away the red in my ledger. Only I can do that.’ She had since left the tribe.     
  
Looking over the village that night, before the chief extinguished the light in his home, he said a silent prayer to the gods. Morning would bring resolution and heartbreak. There would be yet another sin added to his name.


	3. Chapter 2 - Selection

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapters will get longer later on, right now I'm just jumping in setting things up. Anywho, thank you for all of the kudos,comments, and bookmarks!

Thor had not been old enough to make his father’s mark during the first selection. That’s what his mother had said, though he thought his father would have sent him out had Frigga not given her husband such an awful glare.   
  
Now he was a man by the tribe’s standards - so much so that even his mother could not argue. He would soon leave his family and formally bond with his lovely Jane. They would make a life and one day, when his father passed from this world to the next, he would take up the responsibility and lead the tribe. While the young alpha was excited for the future, Thor prayed for beta sons and daughters. He prayed every night because he could see the pain in his brothers eyes and this… the horrible thing he was about to do.   
  
Dawning the dark hooded cloak Thor headed out into the village, there were others doing the same task garbed the dark material. A shroud to protect them from prying eyes, though nothing would shroud the guilt. Thor often wondered if the others slept well at night knowing they had played some part in these traditions. He did not believe he could, as he past another young alpha on the street, he could just make out the dark beard from the edge of the cloak.  Anthony…  that hurt Thor even more because of where he was going to place his father’s mark this night.   
  
Would his friend and shield brother ever forgive him? Surely Stark would know this was not his choice?  
  
Stepping up to the door he beheld the star carved into the doorframe. The house of Rogers. 

* * *

  
“You will go and place my mark on the house of Rogers”   
  
“But father!”  
  
Odin rounded on him with a fierce glare as the old man’s voice rose, “Do you question me? I said go! That omega is weak and sickly, his mother passed not even a winter ago and none will mate him. It would be a mercy!”  
  
Thor wanted to object but he knew it would make no difference. One did not object the chieftain’s word, even one of his sons. Such an act would have even Thor whipped for his disrespect.   
  
So there he stood, knowing he would break his shield brother’s heart if any others would take the same course tonight. He thought they might, Steve was the logical choice. As kindly, as the young omega was he was often ill. Small in stature but mighty in spirit Thor had often said.   
  
That spirit is what drew the eye of the only son of House Stark. 

* * *

  
  
“Forgive me brothers…” Thor said as he took out the small clay jar of colored salve and made the mark upon the door. “..Forgive me.”   
  
He stood back surveying another mark that was already there, he could sense someone just in the shadows behind him waiting. There would be others then, the prince lowered his head and hoped for the best. He hoped this would all just end.    
  
Thor wasn’t a fool, he knew how this would end. 

* * *

  
When morning came, the alphas met in the tribal square. They would announce the number of marks on the door.   
  
James Barnes stood in for the house of Rogers. Sarah had been his mother’s younger sister and even though he was beta, he had to make the announcement. Steve was not permitted to stand for himself.  “Seven for the house of Rogers.”  
  
Other voices joined in the announcement each filled with a hint of worry. As each house with unbound omegas reported, one could see the ease as numbers grew in value. The ones who got away would look to their neighbors and distant relatives with pity, yet a hint of relief that it wasn’t them.   
  
As the end of the clan call drew near it looked foreboding for the house of Rogers, Steve was going to die unless someone else proved a better target.   
  
Anthony Stark stood by his father with hands balled in tight fists and tears threaten to fall. Then it happened, the voice of their chieftain. The final call.   
  
“Nine, for the house of Odin.”  
  
It was over, none could meet their leader’s eye. Thor stalked away from the meeting, he had seen the marks that morning as his mother cried and washed them away.  He had seen the look his brothers face as he left. That look of …acceptance. It was eerie because Thor felt nothing but rage, how could Loki be so calm?   
  
The clan heads were dismissed. The Ritual would begin at sunrise the next day, until then a guard would be placed outside of the chieftain’s home to prevent the omegas escape. Thor played with the notion of killing the man, but then would that solve anything? Even if he took Loki away from here, someone would have to take his place. Someone would lose. Could he really be so selfish?   
  
“I will do away with this horrible practice when I am leader of Asgard, I will go and slay that beast alone if I must.” Thor promised himself. 

* * *

  
  
That evening the house of Odin was a somber one, Loki took his last meal alone. The omega said he could not stand the way they were staring at him. Really, it was that he could not bear his mother’s tears.   
  
However, his brother never could leave well enough alone.  
  
“Brother, speak with me please.” Thor’s voice lit from the entryway, he stood there looking like a lost child.   
  
Loki hated him for it, why did Thor have any right to look sad. “You mean you wish to absolve yourself? Tell me, did Odin’s prized Alpha place his father’s mark on his own door? To finally be rid of me? Mother would not allow me to know those who damned me.”  
  
“Loki I swear I did not! Father loves you! I love you!”    
  
The omega stood, fist clenched as he stormed up to his older brother. “No! You do not get to spout off sentiment now! Where were you when your warriors tormented me? Where were you when Badlr left, at least he treated me fairly! You... you great dog! All you know how to do is growl over me when it suits you. I am not yours, I am no one’s! For that I will be lead out into the wild and bleed like chattel.”  
  
Thor turned his gaze to the floor, “I have only tried to protect you.”  
  
“Fine job you did of that, mighty Thor son of Odin. Get out of my sight, if I am to die in the morning I should like a goodnights sleep. ”Loki was finished talking; he just cast a wary eye on his brother before the older man left.   
  
Thor’s retreating form with its slumped shoulders did nothing to ease the anger inside. ‘This will be my last memory of you.’ Loki thought, laying down on his cot. The last time he would see his brother - this was what he would have. The last memory he would have of his mother would be her beautiful face soaked in tears, his father –unable to even look him in the eyes.  
  
Loki would not be sleeping tonight.


	4. Chapter 3 – Rituals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have added cover art to the introduction chapter. I hope you all enjoy it.

He was not ready. How could he be?   
  
Lying awake as the light slowly faded from black to white in his tiny bedchamber, Loki had told himself he would go with dignity; he told himself that he would hold his head up high. Loki was a good liar – even to himself. There was no dignity in this; no way could he somehow play the role of martyr with a smile on his face. He was young and full of life, he didn’t want to die.   
  
“No! Unhand me you vermin!” The ravenette shouted, as he was drug from home kicking and screaming.  The warriors carrying him, he was not surprised, Sif, Hogan, Volstagg. Not to say the latter two looked pleased with it, it was likely they had promised Thor they would be gentle with his brother. Gentle…what a laugh.   
  
 Sif was the one to cut him out of his tunic and leave him in nothing but the snowy white loincloth worn by unbound omega. He could almost see the pleased look on her face for taking him down a notch. Perhaps it not really sunk in for her yet. Perhaps she thought Odin would stop this. Loki watched her eyes as she turned tossing the ruined garments to the ground. Could see how something in her poster waned looking around as the villagers gathered. Loki hoped she had nightmares of this moment.   
  
“Don’t make us gag you!” one of them shouted. However, it was more pleading than anything was.   
  
Next chains were snapped around his neck and wrists, even with the added weight of the irons he fought. This was not right, he was better than this, he did not deserve this! What barbarism was this that his fate was left to a vote!   
  
Loki heard a sob to his left and saw his mother hide her face in Thor’s chest. To their right stood Odin, who looked on with his one judgmental eye. The great chieftain did not shed a tear, of course, he did not. It would have been unbecoming of a man in his position to weep openly before his people. Or maybe he just didn’t care.   
  
Just like that, the fight left him; Loki simply went limp and allowed himself to be dragged. Keeping his head low as his bare feet were scraped on the rough ground. It was not that he had given up; it was that he knew it would be easier this way. Easier for his mother not to hear him screaming, or worse yet see him struck to be silenced. Loki could not bear to do her such a disservice, it would better this way. Let it be quiet and maybe she would not be haunted by this moment. Maybe somewhere in her mind she could rewrite his death; she could lie for his memory and say he had gone peacefully in sleep. Perhaps claimed by one of his frequent bouts with sickness.  Thor would be good enough to uphold the lie for her.   
  
Loki would damn the warriors when they took him out into wood, he would damn his father with is dying breath. He would do so when well away from her ears. 

* * *

  
The village gathered at the gates, all watching as the light of dawn gave way to midday. The warriors had an old mare with no saddle- tided to back of one of their horses. Loki was not surprised to see who was among the group and who was not.   
  
Odin was not fool enough to allow Thor or one of his more loyal friends in the party. Fandral was also not among them. Loki had been hoping the lovesick fool would be there; perhaps he would have been able to talk to Alpha into letting him go. Instead, he was left with a group of loyalist and those who certainly did not care for his company. There was one whose face he could not see, the alpha wore a red cloak while the others wore black. He remembered this form years ago, that one had a task but what?  
  
What the alpha in red to be his priest or his executioner. On the other hand, perhaps that one would lead the beast to them.   
  
Odin was off in the distance saying something, something Loki was not listening to. The omega only lifted his eyes once to his father and saw for the briefest moment a flicker of something in the old man’s eye. If Loki did not know any better, he would say it was sorrow.   
  
They drug him to the gates and latched his hand shackled to the rope behind the old mare. He notices mow they were saddling her down with short wooden torches and roped made of veins. The Priestess came and smeared ashen symbols over the horse’s flanks. She then moved to him last, she was an older woman with long dark hair, she may have been beautiful once but the gods had marked her. Tainting half of her face in terrible burns.   
  
She was now a link between the land of the gods and men. Or so the tribes believed, Loki never believed on the gods, and to him Hel was nothing more than a crazy woman who lived in a hut covered in skulls.   
  
Her voice was like a snake, each word soft as it rid on a breath - syllables drown out to long. “You, son of Odin. I can smell the fire and the blood rising with in you, do you feel the shift of time?” She asked dragging long sharp nails over his bare skin.   
  
“I…don’t…”  He felt a shock from her fingertips and his spine felt like it was vibrating. “No…it…it’s not time.” He mumbled looking in horror to the one visible half of her face.  
  
“There is reason for everything. Your soul is an old one steeped in the magic of the land. The answer lies with you. When the time comes, close your eyes and reach.”   
  
Her words felt like nonsense, the foul witch had done something to him. He could feel the sweat begin to gather at the base of his neck. As If being ripped apart by a monster wasn’t bad, enough he may very well go into heat before then. What of the alphas in the ritual party? Would they take turns with him? It’s not as if it would matter in the end if he were going to die.   
  
Hel then pained intricate lines on his body and mumbled words he did not understand.   
  
“I am the son of your chief…why do you not protect me.” He murmured hoping the old woman would stop and perhaps help him. Surely, her word would be enough? Surely if she said, he would make a poor offering they would believe it.   
  
“You already have a protector.” 

Loki furrowed his brow, “then where is this protector, why have they not shown their face?”   
  
Hel grinned, strange elongated incisors that gave the woman’s maw the dangerous look of an animal. “He will.”  With that, she left him, muttering more of her nonsense as she waved a smoldering bundle of herbs. The smoke ascending in great white waves into the sky.  

* * *

  
  
The horns at the gate wailed as the sun beat down from high in the sky. It was hot today and Loki could already feel his fair skin beginning to blister. In addition to the painful twisting in his stomach as each moment passed. He looked out into the distance as the seam fuzzed the horizon. That was his road to death.   
  
When the group set out of the village, the tribe looked at the omega that would be their sacrifice. Some muttered that it was good to be rid of the troublemaker; some said not a word for fear of Odin’s remaining son. Thor’s face had taken on an unsettling hard glare; this was Asgard’s future ruler. A part of Loki felt accomplished for finally wiping the smile off his elder brothers face. ‘Maybe now he will grow up’ he thought. Another farther removed part that still remembered when he loved Thor, that part wanted his brother to smile again. Wanted to remember the hand that used to hold his in the dark. The secrets they shared before the world saw fit to separate them.   
  
Odin himself, who had stood stone-faced through the preceding, finally turned his back and entered his home alone.  He paused at the small alcove that had served as his youngest son’s bedchamber, pulling back the hide drape he looked to the empty cot. The bed furs had been folded neatly and placed at one end.  The old chieftain stepped inside and carded his fingers through the dappled brown fur. He could still remember the day Loki was born.   
  
The little boy had been far too early and far too small. It was the dead of winter and the infant did not draw breath right away; his little face had a frightful blue tinge. Eir, the tribal healer, rubbed the baby hard to jog his breath. Odin was sure he had stopped breathing himself until the babe cried. Loki would be there last child, his little precious omega. Forever Frigga’s baby boy, the child she had fought so hard to bring into this world. 

 Loki resembled so much Odin’s own mother. Even in the quiet way, the child seemed to look and analyze things.  Somewhere along the line Odin knew he had lost sight of the boy, he spent too much time on the things of war to see the war with in his own son’s mind. Loki acted out so frequently in recent years, perhaps because it was the only was he could be in the chief’s sight.   
  
“I have failed you...” he said to the empty room. “I have failed you my child…” The old man sat on the side of the cot with his head in his hands, and wept.   
  



	5. Chapter 4 - You don’t have it in you

The thistles and stones bit into his bare feet as Loki walked silently behind the mare. Occasionally he would stumble to his knees and the chains connecting him to the animal would pull and drag him a few feet before he could regain his footing. Each step bringing another sting from the forest floor. He thought how ridiculous it was to force him to walk if he was supposed to be the sacrifice to sooth the beast. Wouldn’t keeping him in good condition be wiser? Then again, if the dull creature lived in these cursed woods it likely rolled in carrion and tore into its meals with claws and teeth.    
  
Not the visual he should have allowed himself.   
  
The deeper into the wood the party went the more the omega was certain even if he was able to cut himself free, the monster or other beasts of the wild may find him before he could even reach safety. Loki had ventured into the outskirts of the forests before, to gather berries or wildflowers. He knew only the landscape of the meadows and light brush. Here the light barely cut through the dense canopy to dapple sun-rays on the leaf litter. This was not a place that welcomed those unarmed.  Even now, he could hear things moving just beyond his sight.   
  
Loki also notices the expressions among the alphas. Even Sif - for all her distaste of him was begin to take on a look of regret. Perhaps that was more for Thor than himself, Sif had always favored Thor. Ahead, the eldest among the group, Fury, sat stone-faced atop his horse. Loki wondered why that one hadn’t been chosen to wear the red cloak. Surely if any was to be selected for Odin’s dirty work, it would be Fury.  
  
“Are we there yet, I should think if you want anything left for a sacrifice  that dragging me bloody through the thorns would be counterproductive.” Loki shouted. If he was going to die, he was going to complain enough to make the lot of them wish they were dead.   
  
“We will get there when we get there.” Fury spoke up not even looking back at the prisoner.  
  
Loki snorted shaking his head away from one of the many pestering insects. “I shall be eaten alive by the pests before then.” The omega shook his head again to dissuade the flies; the motion unfortunately also sent him reeling as his stomach rolled again with cursed heat.  He stumbled and this time found it awkward to right himself immediately. His legs trembling underneath him, how long would it be before the other smelled him?   
  
The mare tugged him a few feet before the beast grunted with effort, enough to make Sif dismount her own horse and venture back to right the fallen omega.   
  
She was only a few feet away when the warrior covered her nose. “Norns… you’re…”  
  
“Yes I am aware…” Loki he groaned and curled in on himself.   
  
Sif pulled a cloth around her face to clear her head before going to haul Loki to his feet. “If you knew it was coming you should have taken Fandral up on his offer and saved yourself this fate! You knew the selection was coming, you’re even more stubborn than your brother!”  She growled in his ear.  
  
Loki found her anger funny to a point, “You would have felt worse dragging along poor Steven, the boy would not have made it this far before his own frail body gave out and you know it.”   
  
The alpha rolled her eyes, “Yes and you have always been so caring about others.” Sarcasm dripping in her tone as she unfastened the lead between the mar and the chained man.  
  
“What’s going on back there?” Furry called, halting the rest of the group.   
Sif took a breath and tugged down the textile before raising her face where the older man could see her properly, “He fell; his ankle is too damaged to walk. I’m just putting him on the mare; we want to make it to the altar before nightfall do we not?” She looked to Volstagg for support, something in her eye telling the man to agree.  
  
“Aye, his hobbling will put us all in danger. Better to get there than follow every rule of ritual.”   
  
Fury seemed to take the lie easily. “Fine, let’s keep moving.”   
  
“Why would you lie for me, am I not fated to die?” Loki could not help but question the woman as she helped him onto the horse’s back.   
  
Sif did not meet his eyes, “You are going to die, but you will do so unmolested. Even you deserve that much honor.”  
  
They continued on the path not saying a word, the mare kept downwind from the others. Not that he doubted Sif; for once, he looked at her and saw the warrior his brother praised. She may not have always been kind to him, but she was not a monster. At the end of the day they were all doing the very thing they had been raised to believe. Loki thought that had he been born an alpha he very well could be among them. Leading some hapless wretch into the darkness to be slaughtered. Would he be like Sif? Would he have helped someone to give them at least a semblance of dignity in their final hours? Would he have been like Volstagg, going on with a clear lie not even knowing why - doing so because one of his shield kin asked it of him? Could he be so honorable, or would he have been like Fury, marching straight ahead under the banner of greater good.  Following blindly the words of his chieftain, at the cost of another’s life.   
  
Part of him wanted to believe he would not have followed any of these roads. He would have been one to cut the omega lose and demanded to go kill the beast. Loki smiled at that thought knowing his foolhardy brother would have been right next to him. ‘Let us slay the beast! May the forest floor run red with the blood of our conquest!’ he could hear the oaf yelling in his daydream.   
  
“I will miss you …the great fool you are.” Loki said to himself, a single tear escaping his eyes. 

* * *

  
  
When they arrived at the altar clearing Loki held his breath, the gods must have been smiling on his lingering dignity as it had begun to rain a while before they reached this place. His own scent now muddled by the wet foliage around them.   
  
Half-curling dead trees, in its center a stone pillar, shrouded the clearing. The foreboding obelisk stood like a grave maker against the changing colors of the evening sky.   
  
“Alright, let’s get this over with.”  Fury said, motioning to Sif and Volstagg to chain Loki to the pike.   
  
Neither alpha looked thrilled with the prospect but did as they were directed.  
  
This was it, Loki thought, this was where it all ended.  He felt embittered that this was where his life had led him. To be nothing more than an instrument to procure the safety of the tribe.   
  
The omega was led to the pillar and thus chained to its unforgiving exterior. The fresh rain reawakened the copper smell of old blood and earth. It sent a chill through his body. Would they kill him first?   
  
He watched and Fury handed the rider in red a dagger, he then led the other warriors away, leaving only the one masked in red.   
  
“Am I to know the face of my executioner or shall you conceal behind that cloak as your chieftains bidding?”  He called in one last show of defiance.   
  
The rider approached dismounting the black stallion, one that Loki knew well and had nourished as a colt when the beasts mother died whelping it. Seeing the horse now the transportation for his demise did only twist the proverbial knife in his back.   
  
Slender hands lifted away the hood.   
  
“Odin would send a priestess in training? My, not pulling any stops on this one was he. Did my father believe you would be a more respectable means?” He asked eyeing the young woman.   
  
Wanda Maximoff raised her dark eyes to the once prince, “I do not question the choices of our chieftain.” The choice had indeed surprised her, to be called to the meeting hall and designated for this task. She had bleed lambs and young fawns in the temple but this… something in her trembled knowing what she must do.   
  
Loki tugged against his bindings; the low burn in his belly was getting worse. “Then do it, chant to the gods or burn your herbs but do it quickly.” He growled watching as the woman drew closer. Her eyes widening a fraction in understanding.   
  
The scent that tickled her nose above the soil and death - was sweet and telling. Her own brother was omega, she knew the signs well enough and saw them now in the would be sacrifice. Something about that knowledge waged war with in her. Every instinct to defend and comfort was pushing against her order to kill. To slit this man’s throat and let the blood call to the monster with in the depth of the forest.   
  
Loki was skilled at reading the eyes of others and right now, this woman was an open book. He could see the twinge of hesitations as her pupils wavered in the low light and her nostrils twitched. She inhaled too deeply and the hand holding the dagger trembled. Had her resolve been true her gaze would have hardened and her grip on the hilt increased.   
  
“You can’t do it can you?”   
  
The words were soft yet held an ounce of mockery. “Great Odin, he chose a coward.”  
  
“I am not a coward, I … I do the work of the gods, I have been chosen to do this now…” She was speaking to fast and her pitch wavering.  
  
Trying to convince her.   
  
“Unchain me; slice my hand if you must to put blood on your blade. Who would know?” he was giving her an alternative. An out from this deed she did not have the stomach.  “I know your brother; he is mated to the archer Barton, is he not? Just this spring, how you have felt if it were him tide to this pillar and Thor ready to plunge a dagger into his heart?”  Appealing to her sentimentality.    
  
The alpha shook her head, she had devoted herself to the gods, saw visions of their faces and the lady Hel had shown her how to weave these images into energy. She was blessed with the sight that was what her teacher had said. She knew the hearts and minds of the people.  She glared hard at the omega before her, ignoring the hitching in his breath as his body wrestled against his nature.   
  
Loki’s heart spoke of jealously, of pain and deception. He was broken somewhere inside, and the depth of that hurt had no clear beginning. It was as if it always was, as if he had simply been born missing something. She raised the dagger to this throat resting it there against feverish skin.  “They were right, if not now it would have been soon. You dream of death, in the darkest part of your heart you even wish for it.”  
“You… you know nothing!” He hissed inclining his neck trying to ease away from the cold steal resting on his pulse point.   
  
“I know everything.” She said, her dark eyes took on an almost ruby glow as she spoke. “You have gone into the night alone in the darkness and coveted to be swallowed up in it. Tell me I’m lying?”   
  
His jaw clenched, his dirty secret - that shameful moment of weakness. “Then release me if you see this as a mercy!”   
  
The blade pulled away slowly leaving a trickle of blood in its wake. The young priestess smiled sadly, “Close your eyes, I hope you find peace in the after.” She said placing the tip of the blade on the omegas bare chest just over his heart.   
  
Loki would not close his eyes, he glared at her defiantly. If he were to die, he would bore the image of the life leaving him into her mind.   
  
Wanda locked eyes with him knowing he would never accept peace and in a way, it was honorable. A fighter until the end. She griped the hilt, she could do it…she could she…  
  
A great roar pierced through the failing light. The fight sent the dagger advancing in a shallow agonizing wound. The omega screamed as the tip of the blade collided with a rib bone before it was wretched free and clattered to the ground. The alpha turned her back on the sacrifice staring into the forest, the ground vibrated with heavy steps.    
  
“Do it! Damn you do it!” Loki screamed behind her.   
  
Wanda tuned and hit her knees searching to the dagger that had tumbled to the ground. The steps getting closer. She was afraid, afraid of the monster that had haunted her nightmares and the nightmares of all the tribe’s children. She looked up eyes wide and her voice broke. “I…I’m sorry…” She stuttered and ran, sheathing the bloodied blade.   
  
“NO! NO!” Loki shouted after her as the woman climbed onto the saddle of the skittish stallion. “You witch! How dare you!” He was going to be torn apart alive… Worse.  
  
The horse cried out in the oncoming nightfall as its hooves thundered away.  “Noo!” His voice broke, “I…I don’t want this. I was wrong, you are wrong. I was a fool! I don’t want to die!”   
  
His body was feverous and the blood running from his lacerations did nothing to quench his burning skin.  Beneath him the earth shook, he could hear the heavy breath just beyond the tree line. His death was approaching. 


	6. Chapter 5 - Monsters are real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So ‘Bruce’s’ thought processes will be in italics. Hulk’s are in Bold. I hope that makes sense, I wanted to approach both as a separate entity with their own unique understanding of the world. Additionally, I’m only touching on Bruce’s history here. That will be addressed later so hold any questions on that. Thanks.

_Things had been going well, he had been trying a new combination of herbs to ease his mind. It seemed to be working but then …. Well there was the incident a few nights ago.  Maybe something different would work, he wasn’t going to wait for whatever ‘magic’ to come and ease his ills._

* * *

  
Bruce Banner had never been able to lead a simple existence, he had been cursed from the start.  His father had been a healer’s assistant in their tribe. Brain Banner had been an exceptional mind, however, he wanted too much. He was unhappy with is position and wanted power. Now the sins of the father had cursed the son. Bruce’s father had set off a chain of events that left him damned to live life as a monster.   
  
Every day was a struggle to find peace and keep the beast at bay. Some days were better than others, some days…well, those were days he would rather forget. 

* * *

  
_Rain was good, rain was calm. There was something else though, something different in the air. He could feel it through the muddle of mixed perception. Something…someone and then…there was blood._  
  
 _‘Not again, please not again…’_  
  
 _The colors rushed before his eyes and everything was smaller, his world his mind. He was the monster, what little had been left of him had been shoved away into a dark corner to wait and watch._  
  
 _‘Please don’t hurt anyone…’_

* * *

  
Waiting for the pain, waiting for death… all this waiting was making him want to scream. Yet Loki could not scream, he could not utter a single world. He forced his back into the stone completely paralyzed in fear as the monster drew closer. Each immense footfall sending a vibration through the earth that shook the omega’s bones. The massive dark outline that blended in with the pigment of the trees.  
  
Why wasn’t it coming for him? Why was it just standing there?  
  
The omegas heart beat wildly as endorphins flooded his system. All the means of fight or flight had been stolen from him. Left him twitching against the rough pillar that held him captive. Loki could hear weighty breaths, was it his own or the beast? Was it panting and salivating as it surveyed him struggle. Could it be that the monster wished to savor his kill by waiting until Loki was screaming for death?   
  
A pitiful sob broke free of his ragged throat. So much shame drowning him as the sound met his ears. This was how he was to die, whimpering like a child as his flesh was rend form bone by some soulless creature of nightmare.   
  
The monster approached through the trees, he could just make out its features… it almost looked... like a man.   
  
No, that could not be right. It had to be a trick of light or an image supplied by his terror-addled mind. The beast had to be monstrous; it had to have fangs and horns. It could not look like this, with eyes that seemed almost...perceptive.   
  
Loki felt a cold slipping down his spine as his vision blurred around the edges. He prayed that maybe he would just die of fright. Maybe he did not deserve that mercy but he wanted it.    
  
A final plead quivered on his limps, nearly soundless in his panic. “Please…please…don’t”   
  
Before the world folded in on him completely. 

* * *

  
  
**The scent of blood had drawn him in, each step familiar as his large frame moved through the trees. This was the bad place, the place where sadness lived.  He didn’t understand why the puny humans did this. Why the hurt? It made him angry…**   
  
**He let out a roar and heard voices scrambling away in the distance, he had chased them once but the voice inside begged him to stop.  He didn’t like that voice, it was weak, and it let this happen.**   
  
**Approaching the clearing, he saw the pillar only this was different because instead of a lifeless body slumped against the stone - this one was moving.**   
  
**They never moved before.**   
  
**He approached slowly sniffing the air; there was a scent among the blood. Fear, pain, and something warmer just underneath. It was sweet and cloying the voice inside supplied a memory. A foggy recollection of a woman with kind eyes and dark hair. The one the bad man took from them.  This one was like that woman, but his eyes were not kind. They were wide and filled with tears.**   
  
**He hurt, and hurt was bad. There was blood, a lot of it - not as much as the ones that did not move though. The voice supplied the reason was because the others had been dead.**   
  
**Coming closer to breathe in that sweet smell that made his chest warm and his anger ebb away. This one looked him in the eyes and for a moment looked confused.**

  
"Please don’t "  
  
 _Another omega, this one is actually alive still; he may not be for long though if he wounds are left. To make things worse the scent of heat is all over him. Why do they keep doing this?_  
  
 _He realized of course - it was his fault the tribe did this. They were simple people and believed his monstrous other self to be some vengeful god._  
  
 _Supplying the beat a memory it could understand, he hoped to coax his way forward; if only for a moment. He begged this curse would allow him that much to help the omega. To prevent even one death, to keep more blood from his hands._  
  
 _The lithe young man begged, tears teaming down his face and mixing with the blood. Begging  not to be hurt._  
  


 _Taking a few deep breaths he watch large green hands break, the chains from around the omega as the ravenette went limp._  
  
 _“He’s still alive, don’t worry. We need to bring him home, he needs to be safe.”_  
  
 **“Safe Home Safe”**   
  
_The deep voice around him echoed, maybe there he could regain some control for a moment. They needed to hurry. The young man was weak and soaked with rain and sweat. In this weakened state with such injuries, it would be a miracle if the omega lived._


	7. Chapter 6 - Confusion

Loki’s eyes fluttered open were ever he was the light wad low and flickering. Gazing up at the stone walls echoing firelight - it had a quiet beauty to it. He was warm and laying on something soft, taking a chance he reached out flexing his fingers against the covering. Fur and hides, had a hunter found him?   
  
He was so tired, Loki allowed himself to lie still for a few moments longer just watching the low light play against the stone. Every now and then, the gold hues would flicker over a vein of some mineral deposit and send a line of glittering life across the rough surface.   
  
Finally, he sat up slowly, shuddering as the muscles in his lower stomach clutched painfully with hunger and need. This was bad, he was injured and at the mercy of some roaming hunter. The omega looked around for possible escape. The room was not a dwelling like those of his tribe, it was primitive. A cave with a hide and thatch woven together at the opening. A large fire blazed in the antechamber, feed by sticks as the smoke rose and escaped through a crevasse in the ceiling.   
  
There were two piles of furs, one large in the back of the cave and the one Loki was laid. A simple low table constructed of wood and log split in half to sit on.  Loki also noticed a collection of dried plants bundled in a handmade basket. “A healer instead of a hunter perhaps?”   
  
He wounds had been tended to, so it was not impossible. Surely not though, what healer would have faced such a beast alone? Not to mention that most healers tended to take up the profession for lack of strength in other areas. Someone had to have carried him here and Loki was tall for an omega and not nearly as lithe as he looked.   
  
“Two perhaps?” he said to the empty room, looking around for evidence of how many lived with in. Other than the two pallets of furs - there was no indication that anyone other than a single person lived here. Judging by the scents, that person was an Alpha.   
  
Loki scolded himself when he took up one of the larger pallets furs and pressed it to his nose. The heady scent of earth and herbs nearly brought him whimpering to his knees. He cursed his own body for such a shameful reaction. Still he could do little for the fever that prickled his skin and the wetness already growing uncomfortably slick between his legs. 

He needed to leave before the alpha returned. While the man may have been kind enough to rescue him in such an injured state - the scent of a needy, ripe, and wanton omega would be too much. Even for the most virtuous of Alphas.   
  
Walking slowly as to not aggravate his condition, Loki made it to the mouth of the cave. The dusk had already given way to night and night now seemed to be waning into dawn. Perhaps the daylight hours would give him enough security from the monster roaming the wood. He felt a shiver run up his spine at the thought. If the beast found him then all of this would be for naught.   
  
The omega looked around the outside of the cave to see if perhaps there was a horse tied anywhere nearby. He was already an outcast so becoming a horse thief wouldn’t be that much worse. Perhaps a small part of him did feel bad about stealing from his unseen savior. Not bad enough not to do it though.   
  
“If I could excise these useless organs and be rid of this shame I would…” Loki hissed wrapping his arms around himself and leaning heavily on the caves exterior. He was hot and aching, had he been home on his cot – chewing on a medicinal root while easing his ills with his own hand. He would have made it through the day and his mother would scold him to find an Alpha. Loki could still hear her voice. “Your making yourself ill, do not cause me more worry my sweet boy. Perhaps give some of your suitors a chance? You never know if you do not try.”  
  
Loki never wanted to try though; he did not want to be dependent on anyone else. Alphas were all the same, they got what they wanted and then had better things to do. He wouldn’t be like so many he’d seen - Shoved aside as soon as he was bred. He knew it happened; omegas would bond and within the next year would have a pup on their hip. The rest of their lives would be spend whelping healthy heirs for their alpha, their mates only use for them found when the heat was upon them. Loki would not be that. He had something far greater in line for himself, he just knew it. It was etched into his bones… he had a glorious purpose.  
  
He had once considered joining the temple, pledging himself to the gods – it would have been honorable. The tribe would have seen him as wise and skilled, it would have been a fitting life for the chieftain’s son. Unfortunately, he found such blind worship disgusting. Never had he felt anything was above waiting for him. The norns were blind or fake, why should the tribes suffer so for gods who did not care? Loki often smiled to himself with thoughts of quiet blasphemy. ‘I would make a far more interesting god indeed.’  
  
Surely now more than ever, having been nearly killed of the ‘good’ of the tribe, served to only deepen his distaste for the faith of his people. How easily he could be led out to the slaughter, how easily this had gone on for generations without question.    
  
“Fools… I hope that menace comes and tramples them all underfoot and eats their first borns.” He muttered making his way to the far end of the caves exterior. There was no horse, no cart, no nothing.   
  
“Damn it…” 

* * *

  
  
Bruce came back to his senses outside of the cave, blood staining his hands and bare chest. The alpha gathers up his tattered clothes and hoped the monster – ‘hulk’ as Bruce called him, had gotten the omega to safety.   
  
He saw the slender body lain atop a small pile of furs, chest still moving slowly. 

“He’s alive...” Banner breathed a sigh of relief. He gathered up a small clay pot of water and some salves and bandages. The scent of the omegas heat made treating the ravenette difficult but not impossible. Bruce smeared a loud smelling mint salve beneath his nose. It made his eyes water but was enough to keep his mind straight.   
  
He spent the remainder of the night cleaning and treating the omegas wounds. He also noticed that the younger man seemed underweight and had many bruises and abrasions on his lower legs and hands. Perhaps his captors had hauled him by a rope.  Bruce had to take a moment to control himself, the steady growl in the back of his mind threatening to surface.  
  
 _‘You can’t... Not now, he needs my help.’_  
  
 **‘Need punish bad alphas....’**  
  
Bruce shook his head, speaking aloud, “Valid argument but no, we need to stay out of trouble and take care of him.”

When morning came Bruce left to gather up some medicinal herbs and mosses from a nearby grotto. The omega was sleeping soundly and seemed stable enough to leave for a few hours. The youth would need food and water soon, Bruce hadn’t been around an omega in years but surely, that had not changed.   
  
He’d return hours later to find the omega not only awake but also wandering outside the cave. 

* * *

  
“You shouldn’t be up yet you know.”  
  
Loki jumped, spinning around at the voice. There was a man there, shorter than Loki himself was but he was broader. Not as muscled as the Alphas of Asgaurd but it was easy to see the strength and thus - the treat that the alpha could pose.   
  
“Just let me leave, I thank you for your aid and…and I cannot repay you as I have nothing.” In the back of the omegas mind he could see what the Alpha might ask for as payment. The idea made him shiver.   
  
“Listen your still weak and in no shape to travel,” The alpha held his hands out evenly. “I’m Bruce, and I promise that I don’t want anything from you. I’m a healer and I just can’t let a wounded man wander out in the forest.”   
  
It sounded too good to be true. Loki wasn’t inclined to believe in the idea of goodwill, not so soon after having been betrayed by his own people. However, with his legs trembling beneath as another wave of his curse heat wreaking havoc on his already weak body - he had no choice. “I will fight back, I may lose but I will fight if you prove your words false.”   
  
Bruce smiled, “I would expect no less, now please.” He held out his hand hoping the omega would take it before the man collapsed. The ravenette color did not look good and his scent was coming across as ill and sour. Bruce was hoping no infection form all the abrasions and lacerations wasn’t setting in. “Please...” he prompted once more taking a tentative step closer.   
  
Loki regarded the offered had like a poisonous snake, still he took it. Stumbling forward as the alphas other hand bolstered him from falling. “You  ...will let me leave when I am well?” he asked, hating the vulnerability in his words.   
  
Strong arms wrapped around the omega leading him back into the safety of the cave. “You’re not my prisoner; I won’t wish that on anyone.” 


	8. Chapter 7 - Not as it seems

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an - just a funfact, I was listing to Desert Rose by Sting during Loki’s bathing scene. So yeah if you want to que that up it works. Sexy Loki is…sexy.

Bruce was not like any Alpha that Loki had met. Most would have been so uncomfortable with this situation but for some reason this mild man took it in stride. He seemed to almost have an endless well of patience.   
  
For the next few days, Bruce tended his ills, kept him fed and made sure he had water. Never once did he take advantage, even when in Loki’s weaker moments he had begged for the knot. Bruce would just smile in a kind/pained sort of way and say _‘you’re not in your right mind.’_   Then sooth the sweat from Loki’s brow.   
  
After the heat had ended- Loki was left feeling completely wrung. Added to the heat - there had been some infection in his cuts and scrapes. His bodies own fluctuating hormones had not helped. He ached all over and felt like his very bones had been torched from the inside out. Absolutely sure his marrow was now dust.    
  
“I’ve died haven’t I? This is death...” The omega groaned from the pelts he was sheltering underneath.   
  
Bruce chuckled from where he sat at the small table. “No, it may feel like it but you will be fine. I’m going to make you some tea with herbs. I’d like you to drink it all if you can manage.”   
  
Loki didn’t out right decline, he’d have to see about the taste of this tea first. “What are you doing out here, surely your tribe needs their healer.”   
  
The omega had been wondering about that, Bruce seemed very efficient. He was meticulous in how he worked and seemed to know and was prepared for any illness. Even with plants, Loki had never seen. The Alpha would be an asset to any tribe to then why was he living like a recluse in a cursed forest?    
  
Bruce cringed at the question, “I...Have no tribe. I have lived here since I was a child.”  
  
“Surely not alone?” Loki couldn’t thing that a small child would have made it out here on his own. Even one as intelligent at Bruce.  He could tell however that the subject was a sore one, the way the alphas’ shoulders tense ever so slightly.

 

“No, I was with my father until a few years ago when he passed.”  

  
Loki knew how to read a lie and he could feel one in those words, one that crawled carefully in the shadows of the statement. Truth and non-truth intermingling. Sometimes the best lies were those that were simply truths with omitted details and vague context.   
  
“I see. It must have been very difficult, with that beast roaming around. Are you not afraid that it might come for you?”  
  
Bruce let out a humorless chuckle. “Yeah, you could say that. I... I have faced it more times, than I like. It may very well kill me one day.”   
  
The omega perked at this, climbing out of his nest of furs. “So you have fought with the beast?”

* * *

  
  
 _Great…now he thinks I’m some sort of rouge warrior._  
  
 **Puny Bruce…**  
  
“In a way,” Bruce said his voice edging; he really did not want to have this conversation. “How are you feeling?”    
  
It was a distraction, a pitiful one but one all the same; Loki would allow it for now. His interest was piqued in would likely pursue the questioning later. It was best not to push ones host least one find themselves out in the cold. Not that he thought Bruce was that sort.   
  
“As though I have been trampled by a cloven hoofed beast or at the very least have been dragged a cart pulled by one…oh wait I essential was” his sarcasm dripping in the words. “The hospitality of Asgard!”  
  
Banner stifled a laugh; at least the omega still had a sense of humor as dry as it was. He watched the slender young man in his peripheral. It had been ages since he’d conversed an omega… one he wasn’t related to anyway.   
  
_Because it’s dangerous, because if he knew what I .. what ‘we’ are – he would run away screaming._   
  
Bruce felt the deep huff of disagreement in the back of his mind. Not that he was going to listen to it. “If you would like, when your feeling up to it anyway. I can take you to one of the far boundaries, you might be able to join one of the other tribes. They tend to be more accepting of Omegas.”   
  
“Because everyone loves a breeder..” Loki muttered with an air of distaste. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t toyed with that idea, but more and more it seemed like a fool’s errand. What different would the other tribes be? Would he have stones latched to his ankles and tossed into the sea for whatever monstrosity of the deep one might fear? Or perhaps he would be carted up a mountain and left to freeze while waiting for a dragon to devour him.  “no thank you…”  
  
“Then what will you do?”  
  
 **Omega stay. Omega be ours…**  
  
 _Absolutely not._  
  
“Starting with a bath would be nice…” Loki eyes the clay bots that held water, “Is there a stream near here?”   
  
“Yes actually, there is a small trail heading along the west of these rock formations if you know what to look for. You’ll hear the water when you’re getting close. I could show you the way if that would be easier?”   
  
“No, I believe I can find it well enough. If not I can retrace my steps.” Loki waved the offer off with out a second thought. Even if the Alpha were kind he wasn’t going to ask the man to bathe with him, what would his mother think! Thought that seemed to scarcely matter, as he would likely never see her again.   
  


* * *

  
  
It wasn’t long after Loki had left that Bruce thought about the many herbal cleansing oils he used for bathing.  Not to mention the fact that the omega had no clean clothes. He swore softly and started to gather up the items in a satchel. Figuring his own clothing would be ill fitted Bruce looked over to the old trunk against the wall. A shiver ran through him thinking about his contents.  
  
 **Omega need…**  
  
 _Yea I know…_  
  
Taking a deep breath he shifted away a pile of old books and tugged open the trunk. The items inside had been untouched for years. Yet he could still smell the lingering odor of jasmine and cloves.  They were still not ideal but… If memory served they would more fitting. She had been tall and slender, not like him… Bruce took after his father with his more compact and stocky build. .He took too much from that man.   
  
Bruce fought down the answering growl in the back of his mind. He had to keep his walls up, at least until Loki was well enough to leave.   
  
Taking out one of the old robes he hoped the omega would not be offended at a garment so clearly meant for a woman.  Bruce took a moment to trace his fingers over the soft olive green of the woven fabric; the once vibrant gold of the stitching had faded with time to now a soft yellow. She was like that, like the nature around her -soft yet vibrant.   
  
The alpha pinched the bridge of his nose to banish the memory, packing away the garment along with the oils. 

* * *

  
Making his way down to the lagoon Bruce thought over a few things, namely a place for the omega to go. He didn’t like the idea of Loki wondering on his own in the world. That could be dangerous for an omega, not that he believed Loki weak - the ravenette had proven stubborn if nothing else. The fact until remained, that there were those who would take advantage of a stray.   
  
Roaming bands of slavers who would have no qualms in placing a collar around Loki’s slender neck. Taking that lithe form and turning into a toy for their own amusement, or for profit. Bruce could not in good conscience allow something like that to happen.  He would have to change the younger mans mind about seeking out a home with another tribe.   
  
Bruce turned down the beaten path and heard the rush of water a head, he would let Loki know he had clothing and …and…  
  
 **Pretty.**   
  
_Yeah…._  
  
All thought was robbed from his brain as Bruce stood a few yards away from the pool, his form sheltered by a grove of trees. Just ahead lay the closed thing to Eden his mind could comprehend.   
  
Long and lean planes of porcelain skin that shone with the cascading waters. Slicked back raven tresses down an arched back.  His eyes following the subtle contours of flesh - that long elegant neck that trailed to exquisitely prominent clavicles. The hollow of the omegas throat were droplets of water pools before dribbling in rivers down his chest. Gods that chest, true enough Bruce had seen the omega nearly naked when he saved him and had since treated Loki’s wounds but this…this was in a new light.   
  
Before he had looked to the ravenette and seen nothing but someone who needed his help. Now, now he was seeing something else.   
Bruce felt the prickling sweat along the back of his own neck as he look away and plastered his back to one of the trees. “I shouldn’t…this is wrong.”   
  
**Not bad. Just looking?**  
  
Rolling his eyes Bruce dropped the satchel; it was a lot more than just looking if the sudden tightness in his leathers meant anything. Still his own curiosity and perhaps loneliness had the alphas head turning.   
  
Loki had his back turned and bent at the waist ringing out his hair.   
  


Bruce let his eyes travel along the omegas shoulders and each bump of vertebra down …down…

  
_NO!_

  
**Yes.**   
  
The observation crept forward in his mind, of how firm and pert the omegas backside was.   
  
_Not helping_  
  
 **Is helping, puny Bruce need help - go claim omega.**   
  
Bruce took a few deep breaths and tried to think about anything else, moss, mud, drying herbs, that woven rug he hadn’t finished yet. Anything in the world other than the naked sensual creature that was currently slippery in the warm pool of the lagoon. He needed to get out of here.   
  
“Loki, I um… I brought some things for you. Please forgive my intrusion.” Bruce said covering his eyes walking down toward the lagoon.  The sooner he got this over with the better.   
  
The omega raised an eyebrow watching the healer approach in such a timid fashion. The man was a constant contradiction. Most alphas would have boldly invited them selves in. Been striped as the day of their birth before he could even object.  But not Bruce. He covered his eyes like a child, it was…charming.   
  
“Thank you, you may leave it were you are.”   
  
“Alright, well…I um, I’ll just be going then. Enjoy the rest of your bath.” Bruce all but ran after dropping the satchel.

* * *

  
  
Bruce took the long way back to his camp, falling into his bed pallet as soon ad he made it back to the cave. “That was too close…”  He said, ignoring the disagreeable grunt in his mind.  The more he lay there the more Bruce realized an even bigger problem. Loki’s scent was all over. 

“This place needs airing out.” Bruce started gathering up the bed furs, a night out in the air would do it, perhaps sprinkling some crushed herbs over them.    
  
As he gathered up some from the Omegas sick bed Bruce was overcome with the heady pheromones of Loki’s heat. With out even thinking he brought one of the pelts to his nose and breaths deeply.  Sandalwood, earth, poppies…   
  
Realizing what he had done he immediately blushed and took the furs out side.   
  
_Just a moment of weakness…_

  
 **mhmm.**  
  
The alpha continued about his cleaning, as time passed. “Loki should be back by now, I should see about some of those dried meats and fruit. He may be hungry; he is on the thin side…”   
  
Just as Bruce started to prepare the afternoon meal he hears a howl in the distance. The wolves were closer than they should be this time of year. Curious…   
  
The second sound that tore through the forest was not from the wolves…but their prey.   
  
“BRUCE!!” 


	9. Chapter 8 - Gentle giant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: ok I confess - one of my favorite scenes in ‘beauty and the beast’ is the wolves, so yes this is an adaptation of that scene.

The oils worked wonders, not in just the feeling they gave of finally being clean again- but in the way, they made his skin tingle pleasantly and warmed his tired muscles.  Loki found himself able to relax, floating on his back in the warm clear waters. How long had it been since he was able to do this?   
  
The tribe at a hot spring that they had built a lodge to surround. It was warm and comfortable yet, it was not this. That was too closed… to small in a way. It always felt...caged.  
  
Loki was never truly alone there; when he was a child, he and Thor would go and bathe with their parents. After Thor presented he went and bathed with the other Alphas. The camaraderie after fighting lessons or coming back from a hunt. Loki never fit in well with the other omegas, well aside from Steve. The sickly little omega was feisty and Loki appreciated his candor. Steve did not take care how he spoke to the alphas, which usually got the younger boy into trouble. Pietro wasn’t terrible; he was a bit younger than Steve was and full of energy. Loki lorded over the two younger boys like a mother hen.  His little misfits just like him.   
  
Pietro had gotten lucky though and caught the eye of one of the tribe’s archers last spring.  Their little tri-fecta was down to two, Steve unfortunately had grown even weaker since losing his mother. Part of him was glad the tribe had not selected Steve; he would be dead right now, if they had.   
  
Loki wondered if the boy would survive much longer.  “They will be ride of all the misfits then won’t they?” he spoke raising a hand to the sky. Watching the droplets of water illuminate in the sun. Glittering like tears before they fell from his fingertips pattering his face.    
  
“Perhaps I was the lucky one.” 

* * *

  
The clothing Bruce left was…well it wasn’t ideal but beggars cannot be choosers. Therefore, Loki quickly washed his old meager garment and rung it dry, folding them to carry back to camp. The robe -not meant for him as the loose cut in the chest suggested. Perhaps with a bit of mending he should make a tunic out of it. For now, it was at least clean and soft. He would see about altering it in the night, the slippers were leather bound so adjusting them wasn’t a problem. Loki wasn’t used to wearing something that did not go up to the knee but he supposed for an older omega the shorter foot covers would have been more practical. ‘His mother’s clothes perhaps....’  The ravenette though as he adjusted the shoes to fit his significantly longer food, wrapping the straps around taut and cinching them at his ankle.    
  
Having gathered everything up the omega took one last fond look at the lagoon, he would have to remember its location should he set out on his own. Surely if that mild healer could make it in the forest then he could.   
  
Loki thought on his options, walking along the path toward camp. “A cave while fortified from the elements is horribly dark, I’m not sure that I’m a skilled enough builder to construct anything on the ground or in a tree so it may be the easiest in relation of shelter.”  He could do this, living alone and really, he wouldn’t be entirely alone. The healer would be nearby, though Loki thought it best that they endure as distant neighbors less the Alpha think he could claim him.  
  
However, Loki banished that thought as quickly as it came. “Bruce is too…..Bruce.”  There is not a word for the healer other than himself because Bruce was singular in terms of Alpha conduct. The man was as lethal as a kitten.   
  
Loki snorted thinking back, “He probably- politely lured the beast way with some rotting meat or some such nonsense.” He had considered the idea that Bruce had ‘faced’ the creature as he had said. ‘Unlikely’ Loki thought. That was not to say Bruce couldn’t outmaneuver the giant, such a feat was likely easy enough. Even an oaf like Thor would be able to out think the dull creature.   
  
All this time the omega had been walking and daydreaming he had neglected to take into account his surroundings. 

* * *

  
  
The first howl had seemed distant, the omega paused a twig snapping underfoot.  He looked around and dismissed the sound. The second howl however…was much closer.   
  
Loki remembered as a boy he had once rode out to the hunting grounds. He and Thor sat in the saddle in front of their father, as Odin took them into one of the meadows that lay at the foot of the peaks to the west. They watched as a pack of wolves took down a doe.  Odin explained how the pack used their cunning and their numbers as their strength. The way one would act as a distraction, circling in plain view of the prey. Frightening the deer and herding it back, then the others would appear one by one cutting off any exoduses.   
  
The omega looked down the path and saw a wolf step out of the underbrush, its golden eyes locking with his green. Staring right into him, daring him to run, watching him like that doe in the meadow.  
  
“It is not the wolf she can see that she should fear….”  
  
The words echoed in Loki’s head, “…it is the wolf she cannot see...” He whispered hearing a soft movement to his right.   
  
It was a split second the omega had to react. Dropping down as the Wolf lunched from the bush to his right sailing over him and turning as it hit the ground. He grabbed a fallen branch and swung as he regained his footing.  Soon more growling predators joined the hunting pack, two, three, four - Loki couldn’t take them all. Maybe if it had just been the two, the one that had served as a distraction was thinner than the rest. It looked older maybe even sick. He might have been able to fight it and its younger counter part, but not now.   
  
His heart pounded looking around at the snarling beasts. Backing himself against a tree he knew they would strike…he was surrounded.    
  
The wolf eves snapped and drooled surrounding slowly. He didn’t want to die, not after he had survived all of this. He couldn’t just die this way, not when he was so close... close. He was close. Bruce, maybe the alpha could hear him.   
  
“BRUCE!” 

* * *

  
  
“Loki…” Bruce ran out of the cave feeling his heart pounding and his blood surging through his veins. The growl in his mind growing louder and louder.   
  
**“Protect omega!”**  
  
For once, he was in complete agreement with the other guy.   
  
“LOKI! HANG ON!”

* * *

  
  
The first wolf launched and Loki took a swing with the branch, cracking the canine in the skull and sending the beast rolling in the dirt. The second was on him just as fast, its maw catching in the robes lose fabric and pulling.  Loki swung again trying to free himself and run.  The third wolf came around behind him and pounced.     
  
“NO!” He shouted feeling the wolfs claws through the thin fabric. He scrambled kicked and flailing. The branch falling from his grasp, his fingers burrowed into the loose soil and threw a handful into the dog’s eyes.  Just as he got to his feet, the first wolf only irritated and from being struck now, cut off his escape.   
  
He had fought, he had tried his best. He was going to die. Loki braced himself as the wolf crouched down, he knew it would go for his throat- it was tear him apart.   
  
As cowardly, as it may have been he closed his eyes. He did not want to see when the creature sunk its teeth into him. Ripped him to shreds just like that doe. Loki pondered if he would die from blood loss or if he would be alive when they started to consume him.   
  
“LOKI!”  

  
The omegas eyes snapped open hearing the shout; he could see the alpha bounded down the path. There was something else he saw, Bruce’s skin. It was, changing.  
  
It was as if the man became too small for his own skin. Loki’s brain said this was not real, he was hallucinating. Maybe the Wolves had already attacked him and this was his brains dying moments trying to make sense of the agony by supplementing his last moments into fantasy.   
  
Because suddenly Bruce was not Bruce at all.   
  
He was the beast, the monster of the forest. 

* * *

  
The wolf leapt forward just as Hulk took over. He snatched the canine by the tail and slung it like a toy. The other wolves changed direction now going for the giant.   
  
Loki scrambled backward staring with wide eyes as the dogs jumped and snapped their jaws. Hulk throwing his fists at the creatures and sending them flying.  The wolves began to howl and snarled louder as more came charging out of the forest.   
  
“Look out!” Loki shouted as one particularly large wolf jumped from the bush and clung to the giants back.   
  
Hulk shook the dog off and grabbed it by the scruff roaring into its face before tossing it away.   
  
Some of the pack began to think better of attack the giant and returned their focus to the omega.    
  
Loki rose to his feet holding a stick out in front of himself. Had he been at his best he would have joined the fray. Thinking about it now, if he had been at his best maybe he would have been too arrogant to even shout for help.    
  
A big gray wolf charged and bit into the end of the makeshift staff, shaking his mighty head trying to rid the omega of the weapon.  The stick broke into leaving Loki with a short sharp club, not terrible but not ideal. Such an implement would be better in close quarter and the prospect of being within striking distance of the wolves’ toothy muzzles was not one he was fond.   
  
Meanwhile Hulk was making more progress through the superior group nipping around him.   
  
_Where’s Loki!_  
   
The question breaking through the haze of rage. Hulk looked around and spotted the omega just as Loki stumbled backward over a root.    
  
 **“NO!”** Hulk bellowed sweeping his fight to clear his way, he was to slow. The gray wolf jumped on top of the omega.  
  
Loki felt the world tilt as he went down, it was a stupid mistake. He fell hard on his backside and the wolf was ready. Unfortunately for the wolf. So was Loki.    
  
Hulk pulled the wolf off the omega and saw the blood; he threw back his head and roared slamming his fist into the ground.    
  
 **So much red…so much is bad!**   
  
Bruce could see it to, like watching through a narrow lens, he could not tell what was what though and it broke him into. Seeing Loki has terrified face and the blood all over him. Over that robe his mother’s robe.    
  
Loki trembled looking up at monster he once feared and he saw…anguish. Those eyes were filled with pain and sorrow. “It…it’s not mine…it’s not mine!” he stammered holding up his hands.  He had thrust the splintered branch up into the wolf’s chest as it pounced on him. Holding as steady as he could to keep just enough room between them. He had felt the wolf’s breath on his chin as it expired, so close to tearing into his jugular.   
  
Hulk looked back at the omega waving his palms up, looking over he saw that the wolf was dead and soon the pieces began to fit.   
  
**“Omega…ok?”**   He tiled his head snorting as he leaned on one curled fist.   
  
“Yes. Yes...” Loki was not exactly ok; he had just recovered from heat and infection. His body not yet up to such as task as this. His voice came out in cracking squeaks.  
  
 _He’s scared…he’s afraid of us. We have to go._  
  
Hulk didn’t want to go though, he wanted puny Bruce to listen but… the omega looked so afraid. Loki was going to hate them now. They were monsters.  
  
Loki trembled trying to catch his breath as the giant turned and began to leave, he wanted to shout to Bruce. Was that still Bruce? Did it mater right now? He had saved him hadn’t he?  Loki’s voice finally  refused him and the massive green back disappeared into the trees.    
  
  



	10. Chapter 9 - I am not afraid.

The omega inclined against a pine, his legs still unsteady as the adrenaline began to drain away. ‘He saved me, not just once but… before. All this time the beast of the timberland, it was he -Bruce, the kindly healer.’ None of this made sense though; certainly, Bruce could not be the beast Odin spoke of in hushed whispers. The creature of legend that was blood thirsty and cruel. Surely, those tales had been meant for another.   
  
Loki focused down the path at the broken bodies of his feral attackers, some of the wolves had been killed and those who had not fled into the forest to lick their wounds. Likely not foolish enough to tempt fate again.  He would have died if Bruce… if the beast that was Bruce, had not been there.   
  
“This is wrong… it’s all wrong.” He muttered stumbling from one tree to the next as he made his way back to the safety of the cave.

* * *

  
  
Loki half hoped this had all been a fever dream. That he would wake in his bed when his mother at his side speaking softly. Perhaps it was the heat; he was old for an unbound omega after all. The heats had gotten worse as the years passed. Maybe this was all in his mind, just a product of his body’s betrayal.    
  
Stumbling into the cave he found it empty, “I shall close my eyes I know that is but a nightmare and if I now that it will end. That’s how it works isn’t it?”  Loki mumbled falling into the pallet of furs he had shared with Bruce the night before. That thought rolled through his consciousness. He had slept next to the alpha and never touched. Truly if Bruce was some mindless creature he would not act with such respect.   
  
Looking down at his blood stained hands and clothes, still able to smell the tacky sanguine fluid and its coppery notes.  Loki felt sick at the notion  it was mixing with his own sweat and drying against his skin. Dreams were not this vivid.   
  
Still in the shock of what he had seen, the omega wanted to believe and curled onto his side. “It will be better…when I wake.”   
  
It wasn’t better though, Loki blinked open his eyes in the fading light of evening.  He felt disgusting and exhausted despite having slept for hours.  He looked around realizing he had dropped the basket with the loincloth he’d been wearing when they had taken him from Asgard. Not that being half-naked had any appeal, it was simply the only other garment he had since the borrowed robe he now were was ruined.     
  
“So much for dreams…”  He mumbled pulling off the blood-crusted robe and leaving it in a heap by the pallet.   
  
Some of it has soaked through and left his skin stained red. He could feel the crusted blood and the thought of it made him shiver in disgust.  The omega knelt naked by the glowing embers in the anti chamber of the cave; it was warmer here for what little cleaning he could do. Taking a vassal of water and a rag to scrub at his skin. It wasn’t the lagoon but it was the best he could do considering.    
  
The next order of business was to cover him. Digging around in a few satchels, Loki found a simple woven tunic, it smelled heavily of Bruce. He was ashamed to think it comforting but it was, it was larger that was he normally wore, fit for a stockier build. Just long enough to cover his genitals, provided there wasn’t a breeze, or he sat or bent over, or raised his arms at all.  “He couldn’t be taller could he…?” Loki snorted digging for a pair of leathers.   He found a pair but they were large on his narrow frame, opting to tie them as best he could with a short length of rope.  It was better than nothing was after all.   
  
Once he was covered, Loki sat by the fire and waited, he thought perhaps when night fell Bruce would return. This was the mans home after all, even if he would only come back to kick the omega out of it he would come back.  Loki still had questions, but considering his own people treated him as a sacrifice to the monster they feared and then said monster had cared for him more than most of his tribe ever had well… Loki was more than willing to throw his lot in with Bruce. If for no other reason that strategy, ‘he who has the biggest stick wins’ that’s what Thor’s friend Anthony always said. Even if Loki fond that peacock of an alpha annoying, Stark was right.    
  
Loki waited until the moonlight began to peak through the clouds before he worried. Maybe Bruce wouldn’t come back, what if that thing he became was still out there waiting for Loki to leave or might change it’s mind and come back here to kill him. On the other hand, it was hunting its next meal for all the omega knew.  That dark thought dispelled into melancholy however, “It’s still Bruce, and he asked if I was hurt… a mindless beast would not care.”   
  
Then the omega thought more on the attack it self, the wolves had been all over the giant. What if Bruce was hurt?  What if he was out there now alone and weak? Should a hunting party from one of the tribes find the monster they so feared - compromised then…?  
  
“I have to find him…” Loki took the only weapon he could find - a short dagger and slipped it through the makeshift belt.  Weak or not, omega or not, he had been raised under the honor of the tribe of Asgard.   
  
He owed the healer a debt for saving him, and it was one he intended to repay. 

* * *

  
  
This was the only place he knew to go other than home. Bruce said no, but Bruce wasn’t in charge right now so Hulk could do what he wanted.   
  
Hulk sat behind the falls holding out his palm to catch the running water. The lagoon was a beautiful place, he always liked it most.  The omega had been so beautiful here, but now the omega was probably long gone.   
  
**Stupid Bruce…**  
  
 _It’s better this way._   
  
Hulk didn’t think so; he did a good thing today. He smashed those wolves good because they tried to hurt the omega. Bruce just wanted to leave; he said Loki would be afraid of them. Loki did look afraid. Everyone always looked afraid.   
  
The giant wrapped his arms around himself looking down at the rolling water. It made him so angry to have to hide.  He growled and pounded his fist against the rocks.    
  
 **Always like this…always alone.**  
  
 _We have to be, it’s safer._  
  
 **For who!**  
  
Hulk grunted in disapproval, alone was not safe. Bruce’s father made them alone… he was a bad man and a worse monster.   
  
Bruce picked up on the thought and signed _‘That’s exactly why, you don’t want to hurt anyone and I don’t want you to.’_

* * *

  
  
Loki set out on the path; his initial plan was to see if he could make out the giants trail. However, he was no tracker, as an omega he was never taught such skills. That didn’t mean he hadn’t picked up a few things - yet it was still out side his expertise.  Wandering through the dark in unfamiliar woods was less than ideal.   
  
It took time for his eyes to adjust; thankfully, with the moon out he had some guide through the trees. The giant knew these woods and knew how to travel through them with out leaving as much disturbance as one might think. True there were spots there the ground still bore the remnants of heavy footsteps.  Most was still masked by leaf litter, Loki found himself becoming more and more frustrated.  He was going in circles out here…   
  
“Perhaps I am thinking on this incorrectly. The beast…it is still Bruce; he would not be one to run so far from camp. Not while I am here alone.  Monster or not he is still an alpha… gloriously predictable in their overprotective nature.”   
  
Loki walked back to the path, he decided to go to the only other place he knew of - the lagoon.    
  
With light footfalls the omega crept closer, he wasn’t stupid. The giant might be Bruce inside but still anything with that much size needed to be approached with care. The last thing Loki wanted was to be swatted or smashed.  Creeping closer the sound of the falls filled the night; the place was even more beautiful in the hues of night.   
  
The water nearly closed like silver under the moonlight; moreover, Loki could see luminescent fish that had come out of hiding. They swam in lazy circles beneath the glassy surface. He could almost feel something in the air of this place, it seemed to vibrate.   
  
Loki moved along the tall grass and cattails looking for any sign of the green behemoth. Then he saw it, something just behind the falls hunched in the shadows.  He truly hopes he was right because anything else as large he hoped not to meet alone.   
  
For now, it seemed the creature had not spotted him so the omega was free to observe.  
  
A large green palm reached out catching the falling water; it reminded Loki of how a child might take shelter from the rain but long to experience the cool down pour. There was something like curiosity and innocence in the action. The way the thick forest hue fingers waved in the falling waters.    
  
Loki crept a bit closer, along the banks before slipping off his shoes and rolling up the legs of the loose trousers. The water was much colder at night and he suppressed a shiver that threatened to chatter his teeth. 

‘Not yet, he cant see me yet. I have to be sure.’ he thought. Part of his mind was telling him this was incredibly foolish. If the giant spotted him now there was no way he could run. The dagger at his side would be useless, additionally; could he truly raise a weapon knowing what he did now? Know this was Bruce?   
  
Loki caused make out the giant’s features at this distance. The way the broad green face frowned, chin tucked atop folded knees. So much like a child.   
  
Call it biology, blame it on the lessons Frigga drilled into his head. Something in the omega made him want to offer comfort.   
  
Bruce was alone, how long had he lived with this secret, how long had he been with out anyone to care. Loki knew what that felt like in a way, he always felt so separate from everyone else in his tribe. Yet he had at least a few he could look to in times of sadness. Bruce had no one. Now Loki had no one.   
  
Perhaps. Just perhaps. They could have each other.  
  
Loki took a breath and waded farther into the water until he was out of the shadows. If he was going to die now, he might as well go out in glorious fashion rather than tied to some post or eaten by wild dogs.   
  
  
 “There you are…” 


	11. Chapter 10 - Something with in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN- Ok we have another little nod here to the beauty and beast Disney film, if you spot it good for you

“There you are…”    
  
The voice drew Hulks attention, he hadn’t expected anyone to find him. Bruce of course cringing at the sound because he recognized it straight way .  
  
 _It’s Loki.. don’t hurt him._  
  
Hulk snorted, as if he would do such a thing. Still the omega should not have been sneaking around in the dark it wasn’t safe.   
  
“Bruce?”   
  
**“No Bruce.. Hulk”**  
  
Loki lowered his hands, having raised them in the international sign of ‘please do not squish me’ thankfully it worked. “Hulk… that’s… interesting. Will you come into the light were I can see you?”   
  
There was a low growl from the shadows that held the beast. Loki squinted trying to make out more of Hulk through the falls. “I will not run, just come into the light.”  He assured. Though perhaps a little less confident before. True, he had seen the giants form as clear as day but that had been with fear coursing through his veins. This was different, being so close and so quiet.   
  
The omega vaguely remembered his mother telling him stories as a child. How se described the tribe, she came from in Vanaheim. She would smile and say that the gods had blessed the Vanir ancestors with magic and mastery of creatures of magic. On those, nights when he was ill and sleep far away from his grasp she would sit at his bedside and speak softly of sprites and other fae. When he would ask her were they had gone she would stoke his sweat-laden brow and say ‘They still remain for those who wish to believe. Man has grown too old for magic it seems, but perhaps it is better because such precious things are often fragile.’  
  
As a child, he would play in the flower groves and make believe the fae were real, and in his play, he would believe the lie. Now however he wondered if it had truly been lies? Had the chattering orbs of light he chased through the posies truly been the little winged beings he wished them to be? Because he had believed?    
  
Loki suddenly felt as he had then, standing so close to something that should not be. Something unique and in a way… fragile.  “Come into the light… please.”   
  
The water parted over massive shoulders, rolling down skin the color of moss.  Hulk looked down on him for only a moment before looking away as if waiting.   
  
The omega stared for a moment at the imposing figure before him and yet… he felt no fear. The closes emotion he could pinpoint was - Awe.    
  
Loki had always been inquisitive, to the point that his curiosity often landed him in trouble more often than not. Were his alpha brother found adventure in fighting and conquest, Loki found his in knowledge. He would often creep around the village listening to the adults conversing over tribal maters or gossip. Using his lithe form as an asset to slip into places he should not have gone.  He learned things, how people were not always, as they seemed once behind closed doors. How the world had two faces, the one that people could handle and the one they could not. Things his father would hide from the tribe in times of low food or spreading sickness. The whispers of war, and titillating secrets of those in seats of power.   
  
Perhaps Loki would have never been chieftain because of his nature, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be opposed to quietly making suggestions or more accurately - pulling the strings behind the veil.   
  
It was that inquisitive nature that had the omega moving closer, reaching out before he even thought better of it.   
  
As foolish as he’d been as a youth reaching out to stroke the scales of a colorful viper. Never once considering the fangs.   
  
Hulk growl warning the touch, ignoring the voice in his head saying Loki meant no harm.   
  
The throaty rumble had Loki pulling his hand back. “I…” for once in his life Loki found his silver tongue failing him.  “I saw you… before. Before when you wore the guise of the healer Bruce. Is he simply an illusion you use to remain undetected?”   
  
_Great… now I’m an illusion…_  
  
 **“Puny Bruce…here now.”** Hulk tapped the side of his head.   
  
Loki nodded, though not sure he truly understood. The omega shivered in the cold water of the moon lit lagoon. The chill creeping into his already tired bones as it soaked through the ill-fitting leathers. At this rate, he would have to wanted around naked with how he was ruining clothes left and right.   
  
Hulk watched the ravenette warily, noticing the slight tremors through the omegas slender body.  
  
 _He shouldn’t be in the water in the middle of the night._ Bruce was itching to come back now because he could just see how much paler Loki seemed. It could have been a trick of the light just still it made him worry for the already weakened omega.   
  
Hulk agreed but still not ready to lose his grip on the physical world. The giant moved out of the falls and down into the water, Towering over the shivering omega.  
  
Loki felt his breath catch looking up as suddenly the beast was right in front of him. The water shifted and rose as the larger mass entered the lagoon. Loki took a shuddering breath feeling the tunic soak up to his breastbone. He swayed and with out thinking reach out to stabilize himself, his hand laying flat against the wall of muscle in front of him.   
  
The alpha stared down at the small pale hand, when was the last time he had felt touch? Sure Bruce has to touch the omega while helping him, but this was different. Loki put his hand on Hulk not Bruce; no one ever touched him kindly. People only screamed and tried to hurt him, the villages shot arrows at him and threatened him with fire.   
  
**“Cold not good, make omega sick.”** he rumbled, large hand twitching to touch back but afraid to. His hands were too big and too strong. He didn’t want to hurt Loki.   
  
That thought made Bruce ache, how often had his monster wanted to feel more than anger. It was always out of reach; Hulk was a creation of rage and magic. A punishment, still…Bruce understood because he to longed to touch and be touched. Something he could never have.   
  
“I’m fine. I assure you. You however, you are hardly clothed out here in the night…” Loki’s voice quivered in discomfort though he held his head high, defiant of his own weakness. “You shouldn’t have run… that was foolish.”   
  
Hulk grunted and looked away, **“Omega foolish…”**  
  
Loki crossed his arms “I have a name you know, its Loki. I am far more than my nature and expect to be treated with the respect due a prince of Asgard.”  
  
 **“Prince puny”**  
  
Loki squawked, “I am not puny! I will have you know I am quiet tall for most of the men of my tribe. Just because you’re so enormous doesn’t make me puny!”  However, Loki’s rant was cut short by a fit of sneezing.  
  
 _We need to get him out of here now._   
  
Large arms wrapped gently around Loki before he could protest, lifted with care and placed back on the bank. He falters a moment bracing his hands around the giants’ biceps. “t-thank you.” He mumbled looking away. “I… may I speak to Bruce? I feel there is much I don’t not understand about all of this. Much that you may not be able to articulate to me.”  
  
The Hulk stepped away from the kind touch, Loki needed Bruce. He just hoped maybe one day Loki might need him.   
  
The giant staggered away a few paces, Loki watched as the green skin began to fade and the massive frame shrunk in on itself. It was fascinating to see a second time, now with out the fear rushing through his system. One moment monster and the next man.    
  
“Bruce?” Loki questioned, creeping closer. His own sodden garments leaving a wet trail on the forest floor.   
  
The alpha sat up rubbing his head. The first few minuets after were always the worst, that rush of blood that left his head spinning and skull splitting.  “I’m fine…” He croaked, throat feeling like sandpaper. Still Banner held out a hand to keep the omega at bay. An old habit, certainly he was far less of a threat now but it didn’t mean it wasn’t still possible. “I’m fine.”  
  
Loki tilted his head studying the downed alpha from a distance. He decided Bruce was telling the truth and settled himself down into the grass. “I’m sure you realize I am expecting an explanation.”   
  
“Yeah, I kinda figured that.” 

* * *

  
  
They sat there in silence for a while until Banner had sorted himself out.   
  
“I’m Not what the villagers say; I’m not one of the gods or anything like that. I’m just cursed.” Bruce spoke, not looking at Loki. He feared the Omegas reaction; surely, Loki would understand how dangerous it was to stay around him.   
  
However, Loki said nothing, he just listened. Therefore, Bruce continued with his story, “My father was training with the healer of our village. A man named Stephen Strange; he was more like a shaman really. The temple priests would have had him cast out but they couldn’t because he knew more than they did. Strange could do things… things that shouldn’t have been possible. My father wanted that power, but Strange was only going to teach him about herbs and remedies. He said that the man who taught him always said ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ so he refused to teach my father.”  
  
“Your father he did not want the power for just reasons did he?”  Loki asked, seeing the way Bruce curled in on himself.   
  
“No, he didn’t… and Strange wouldn’t teach him so, he found someone who would. A man who lived alone in these woods, he’d been cast out for things he had done. He had the same kind of power as our healer but he only wanted to destroy things. They called him Doom because of it, my father sought him out. Doom told him that in order to take power he had to give up something.  There’s price for everything, my father was willing to pay that price because he was so drunk on the idea of becoming like a god.”  Bruce began to tremble clenching his fists trying to fight down the rage.   
  
He was so consumed he didn’t even hear the omega creeping closer until a cold damp weight settled against his bare back. At the first flutter of breath against his neck and the growling in his head subsided. “Loki…”  
  
“What was the price?” Loki asked softly, one of his hands settling atop the alphas.  
  
“My mother.”   
  
Bruce explained that when his father killed his mother, Strange had found out. The old shaman was so enraged at his pupils actions he placed a curse on him. A curse that the Alphas of his bloodline would never harm another omega, that the power Brian Banner had coveted would come to him but not as he wished. Instead, the rage would make him a monster and so it would be for all eternity.    
  
“Can nothing be done to break the magic’s bind?”  
  
“I don’t know, my father was… He was like Hulk most of the time. It was different for him, his rage was who he was. Hulk and I, he’s like another part of me so when I change.. It’s hard to explain. All I know is I have been like this since I was a kid. He wanted me go back to the village and kill everyone, I was stronger but I didn’t want to. Hulk didn’t want to. So I…I have killed, maybe if I hadn’t this could be fixed but not now. I’m a monster Loki, I’m not safe.”   
  
Loki pressed himself closer to the alpha, Bruce was a kind man it seemed so unfair that he had to be punished for his father’s deeds. Were all the tribes truly so cruel ? “ I don’t see a monster, a monster would not have saved me.”

* * *

  
Bruce felt the weight on his back tremble and knew that he needed to get Loki dry and warm. His reasoning that the omega should leave was now gone. For whatever reason Loki wanted to stay, and as horrible an idea as it might be - Bruce wanted him to. He was tired of being alone.   
  
They walked back along the path until the omegas legs would no longer obey. Bruce swept the taller man into his arms, thankful that Loki was so light. Once inside he gently helped the omega out of the cold clothes, smiling  subtly when he realized they were his.   
  
“Here, just wrap this around you for now.” He said handing the Omega a bit of buckskin that Bruce often used to fold around bushels of herbs. It was large enough to circle the omegas narrow waist to provide some modesty.   “I was airing out the other furs so we may have to bunk together again tonight. I hoe that’s alright.”   
  
Loki nodded with a yawn already crawling up onto the bed pallet.   
  
Bruce followed stripping down to a loin sash and situating himself next to the still shivering omega. He told himself it was to share warmth when he wrapped his arms around Loki, told himself it was the right thing to do. If he enjoyed it as well… that was his secret.


	12. Chapter 11 - The truth returns

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time line for this, I'm not going to explain in-depth, but by the end of this chapter its around 3 months since Loki will have been sacrificed. the following chapters will show what Loki/Bruce did during that time. the end of last chapter would have been around 3 weeks. 
> 
>  
> 
> To be honest i almost didn't post this. getting kinda depressed, not that its an excuse or that it matters, i'll still put something out here.

The village had been quiet since the sacrifice. In the eyes of the people that meant  it worked…that’s what they all thought. More than that though some of the life had left the tribe. The house of Odin seemed to be under a shroud of sorrow, and there were at least a few omegas who mourned the loss. Yet they all made it through, this wasn’t the first loss and it would not be the last.  Even if for some, that missing place would take much longer to fill.  
  
One of those being a young silver haired omega called Pietro, he had been friends with Loki one of only a few the strange prince had. He hadn’t had time recently to spend with is friend and that oversight now weighed on him.   
  
Pietro had mated with one of the village’s archers, Clint, who had been previously mated and had several small pups still underfoot when his mate Laura had died. Pietro knew the woman, she had been kindly but weaker than most.   
  
Death often came in the winter months; it took Laura just as it had taken many others. The sickness that came with the cold air that left its victims gasping for breath and spattering blood into their bed linens with each tortured cough.   
  
Two seasons passed before the arched asked after him, Pietro had always had a crush on Barton. The man was caring and a good father, even so, he was an Alpha and caring for so many little ones wore on him. The younger man was happy to help and even happier when Clint offered to help him through his heat.  Afterward, Pietro asked him if Clint would bond with him. The alpha agreed saying that while he may never forget his first lover, he had room in his heart for another.   
  
There was only one other person who mattered as much in Pietro’s life and that was his sister Wanda. She was a priestess in training, quiet and kind. Yet ever since the sacrifice, she seemed. Different.   
  
Wanda had not been close to Loki, because of this she had gone with the party that took the omega into the forest. He however had no idea what her involvement was. The omega supposed that she had prayed for Loki, or maybe beseech the gods on his behalf.   
  
He never dreamed that trying to help his troubled sister would confess to a truth so terrible.

* * *

  
“You want to tell me what’s going on now?” the silverette asked shifting little Nathaniel on his hip.   
  
His sister had come by to check on him, Clint was away with a trade party to insure their safety on the journey. Wanda was one to worry for her brother and always made sure to check on the omega if ever he was alone.   
  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She said hands moving swiftly as she peeled potatoes for the evening meal.   
  
Pietro sighed as he watched her; Wanda was always a bad liar. Placing the squirming child in his arms down on cushion by his chair, he tried again, “I am the older one you know…”  
  
“By a single breath, it dose not count.” Her forced smile said more than her words.   
  
He could see the darkness-taking root beneath her eyes and the subtle tremor in her usually steady hands. “Do not lie to me, you promised me you would never do that.”   
  
The alpha froze her lips pressed thin and knuckles white from her grip on the knife. “Don’t, it is none of your concern.”  
  
The omegas nostrils flared, “It is.” Pietro called for his mate’s eldest child to come and collect the baby for a moment.  Saying he needed a moment alone with his sister.    
  
“You have been this way since the sacrifice, now explaining. You did not favor Loki, yet here you sit broken ever since that day. Tell me…tell me sister, what have you done?”    
  
His pleading voice was too much; she slammed the knife down on the table and shot up from her seat. “I did-…I went to complete a task. I went for the tribe!”  She fumed though her anger ran cold, the color draining from her face. “The chieftain… has absolved me of this. I …I tried.”  
  
“What! Tell me please! I only wish to help you; you do not eat or sleep. You walk around here like a ghost… you frighten me.” Pietro grasped his sister’s shoulders to steady her. “Please, tell me what happened.”  
  
“I failed… I was to complete the ritual and… it came from the forest, it was so loud and close I …” She struggled to speak pulling away from his kind hands to cover her ears. Tears welled in the young priestess’ eyes. “I didn’t do it, I heard him screaming then… I just… I ran.”   
  
“Wanda…”  
  
Tears streaked over his face as the alpha fell to her knees. “I was supposed to kill him before the beast could take him. He wasn’t supposed to suffer, I’m sorry brother. I am so sorry.”   
  
The omega leaned back against the table, suddenly longing for the arms of his mate. To take this away. “So then…”   
  
“It …tore him apart.” She sobbed folding into herself.  “I know what he meant to you, and to Steven.  I hesitated; I looked in his eyes and saw death. I saw what he wished for in the darkest part of his heart and yet I could not give him that peace.  Hate me for my cowardous if you must.”  
  
Pietro looked away, he could not believe it. Even for days after the sacrifice, he’d expected Loki to come sauntering out of the shadows with that self-assured grin. Laughing about how he’d fooled them all. The ultimate trickery, but then… as time past the truth of it sank in. His friend had perished, now knowing it was to be Wanda’s own hand meant to slit Loki’s throat. It made him sick, yet- she failed. “Did you see it?”  
  
“What”  
  
The omega dropped in front of her shaking her, “Did you see! Did you see it kill him?”   
  
Wanda prized his hands from her arms, her eyes wild. “I couldn’t, the beast would have killed me as well! I heard him screaming Pietro. Is that not penance enough that I should live with that sound every time I close my eyes?”   
  
“You didn’t see it. Then it isn’t true.” He spoke with such resolution. He stood leaving her there on the floor as he rushed to leave.  
  
Wanda reached out for his retreating form, “Where are you going! What are you talking about?”   
  
“Watch the children! I will be back soon.”   
  
And just like that, the silverette was gone. 

* * *

  
  
“I could take such good care of you Stevie…” Tony drawled in his ear… the alpha was persistent he’d give him that.   
  
“If Bucky catches you in here…”   
  
“I’m not worried, just say yes beautiful. One little word.”   
  
Steve really wanted to say yes, god he wanted to. That wouldn’t have been fair to Tony though. Steve was weak and he knew that the Howard expected Tony to carry on the family name - to mate well and have an omega that could whelp a house full of little alphas. Steve couldn’t do that, he kept telling the dark-haired alpha to look elsewhere. Hell, he threatening him, argued and slapped Stark on more than one occasion. Still. He just kept coming back.  
  
Maybe Tony was just so damn stubborn he couldn’t care about what other people wanted. He had tunnel vision when it came to Steve.   
  
Right now, the charming devil had Steve under him licking a stripe up the omegas neck. Whispering promises and swearing his allegiance.   
  
“Come on baby, I can smell it on you how bad you want this. Let me take care of you.”   
  
Steve panted and weakly pushed at Tony’s chest “I don’t… I don’t need to be taken care of.”  Yes he did, oh god yes he did. Everything in Steve’s brain was screaming to roll over on his belly and present.   
  
Thankfully, the pounding on his door saved him the embarrassment.   
  
Tony growl and charged to the door, throwing it open with a shout “WHO THE FUCK!”… The alpha however found him bowled over by a blur of grey and blue.   
  
“Steve!”  The tall omega forced his way in having run all the way there.   
  
Rogers sat up smoothing down his hair and tugging his tunic back in place, trying not to blush. “Pietro what’s the matter? Is one of the kids sick?”   
  
“I need to talk to you!” Pietro glanced back at the annoyed alpha by the door. “Go away Stark, play with your toys.” he said waving off the older man.   
  
“Hey! Look here speedy you can’t just waltz in here and knot-block me like that!”  
  
“Tony go home.” Steve said folding his arms. It was amazing how a man his size could look so serious and disapproving when he wanted to.  
  
The alpha withered under his gaze stalked out grumbling something about ‘people touching his stuff’.   
  
“Pietro, what’s this about?”   
  
The younger omega sat down on the bed his fingers twisted up in his own tunic fringe. “Loki…”  
  
Pietro told Steve what Wanda had said, he swore that if anyone could get there way out it would be the tribes little trickster. Steve however, was less than convinced.   
  
“Look, I know you miss him. I do to, arrogant ass he was. Still he had moxy and I can respect that. We have to face the facts though, and the fact is Loki is gone. Even if he’d managed to get free - it’s been so long, the moon has almost returned. If Loki was out there, don’t you think he would have come back? If for no other reason than to gloat? I’m sorry Pietro but Wanda’s right, the monster took him, and it’s proof enough that no one has seen the creature since.”  
  
“But she didn’t see…”   
  
Steve’s heart broke for the younger omega. Pietro and Wanda’s mother had died at their birth and their father had left the tribe even before then. When the boy could barely walk and Steve himself was just a few years older and his own mother was nearly as ill as he was - they had Loki. The tribe’s young prince with his perfect posture and smirk.  Loki who was always too abrasive for the other omegas, but he found them. His ‘little Misfits’ as the older boy liked to say. Steve could still remember the days when they would sit in the meadows and talk. Loki usually scolding Pietro when the little boy would run around chasing after insects.   
  
“I’m sorry, but there’s nothing we can do for him now. He gave his life for the good of the tribe.” Even as Steve spoke the words, they felt sour on his tongue. ‘For the good of the tribe.’ that was shit, maybe he should mate with Tony and tell the Alpha he wanted to leave Asgard. They could all go, to the north maybe. Or even farther, there had to be somewhere that was better. 

* * *

  
  
It was many nights later when Clint returned with the trade party. He entered his home and hung his bow in its spot above the hearth.  Continuing through his home, peeking in on the children one by one. This was his ritual upon returning- just as every time before all the pups were tucked away on there cots safely. Little Nathaniel was safe in his cradle at the foot of the largest bed pallet.  Clint looked down at his youngest; he was a lucky man.   
  
Last, he would strip down and crawl under the furs with his mate. Wrapping his arms around the silverette narrow waist, nuzzling against the younger man’s bond mark.   
  
“Clint?”  
   
“Yep, it’s ok Hun. Go back to sleep.”   
  
Pietro rolled over and looked at his alpha. It didn’t take long for Clint to scent the distress and pull the other close. “What’s the matter? Do I need to kick someone’s ass?”   
  
“No.” Pietro mumbled wrapping his arms around the alphas sturdy back. “I am just…confused. Has anyone ever told you something but you believe with all your heart they are wrong?”   
  
“Well that depends, sometime you just want something to be true that you can’t see that it isn’t.” Clint had inkling what this was about but he had hoped his mate was coping better than this. “Wanna tell me what’s going on?”

Pietro told his mate everything until he found himself vibrating with frustration. “I just… I feel it. The way I feel the wind or the sun, it’s so real.”   
  
The archer wanted to help his love understand that this simply couldn’t be true and he knew of only one man who could do that. He just hoped he would not be hurting someone else by bringing up the painful memories. “I’ll talk to Thor ok? I know he’s been in the forest since then and they were brothers after all. I know you want to believe honey, but you have to let go. Let your friend rest in peace. Ok?”  
  
“Alright, if the prince agrees. I won’t think on it again.” 


	13. Chapter 12 - so close yet so far

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little snip of fluff

The extra bed pallet never did return. Bruce had made a feeble attempt at it one night as he brought in the aired out furs - this was meet with an unimpressed glare from Loki who promptly crawled on the larger bed and buried himself into his now claimed spot.    
  
So much for that.   
  
Then their were other things, troubling things in Bruce’s mind - well half of his mind anyway. The big green half was thrilled.   
  
Loki was more or less making himself at home and they even had a bit of routine starting to form between them. Bruce who was an early riser was learning the value of sleeping in on occasion. Mostly because he was trapped by the ravenette who had a habit of migrating from one side of the furs to the other over the course of the night.  This left Bruce trying his best to shift the sleeping man with out waking him.   
  
Next would come breakfast. Loki was beginning to be troublesome during any mealtime, the omega barely ate and when he did, he picked at whatever it was and made disgusted sounds. When Bruce would ask if anything was wrong, Loki would just push the offering away and say he wasn’t hungry.    
  
Banner was a no confrontational type so he would just press his lips in a line and store whatever was salvageable. The omega’s appetite would usually return in the late after noon and he’d finish it then.   
  
After the evening meal, they would go down to the lagoon to wash up or gather water to be brought back to the cave. Bruce would then brew tea over the fire and they would eat sweet berries and talk until night.   
  
Of course this wasn’t the only activates, Bruce would take Loki into the forest and show him different plants and explain their many uses. Loki was a quick study and soon the healer’s herb gather was done in half the time.  Of course then Loki became curious over why Bruce kept such supplies when he was here alone.   
  
“I need them for trading and selling.” Bruce mentioned casually.   
  
Loki perked up at the mention and latched on to the information. “So you go to the villages as you are now?” 

“Well I don’t think the other guy would make a good merchant. What with his pigment issues.”   
  
The omega snorted, “Obviously, you just don’t strike me as the social type.”  
  
“I do what I have to in order to survive. How do you think I have all these furs and the pots? I’m not a hunter nor is a potter, what I do know herbs. Therefore, I take my half-decent apothecary knowledge and make up a few basic tonics to sell. I make enough to go to market and get enough supplies to last me through the winter then come back. I never visit the same village more than once a year and I never give the same name. You have known idea how many chieftains would love to get their hands on their very own monster.”   
  
Loki pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, worrying it tender. He hadn’t thought of that, Bruce would be far easier to capture as he was now and kindly as the man was that could be used against him.  “No one knows that you and he are one, aside from myself I suppose. How would any come to that conclusion?”  
  
Bruce finished hanging a few springs of mint and turned a sad smile to the omega. “It only takes one accident. I’ve been lucky up to now, I’ve never been seen changing and I want to keep it that way. I’m all too familiar of how dangerous man can be.”  
  
“I see, and then I shall accompany you.” Loki crossed his arms with a sagely nod. 

Bruce chuckled to himself. “No your not.”  
  
“Why not! I am far more knowledgeable about the current trade spots than you are! I’ll have you know I was known as silver-tongue among my people, because I can convince anyone of anything. Think of the money you’ll save.”  Loki was just trying to be helpful, it had nothing to do with the fact he wanted something…not at all. If he was able to help Bruce get more for his wares that they would have a bit extra - which might help Loki could get some better fitting garments or maybe a carved comb for his hair, then that was just a coincidence.   
  
The alpha pinched the bridge of his nose, “You were a prince correct? Of Asgard of all places, how many chieftains’ and clan, leaders from the other villages know your father. Have seen you for that matter?  No offense Loki, but you’re not exactly someone that could go unnoticed.”   
  
“I think you over estimate my popularity. True we had vast trade with others and on occasion were visited by those in position of power, but I was hardly a fixture at these meetings. I was only of interest once I presented, then it was little more than smiling and being courteous to the alpha sons and daughters of my fathers allies.” Loki folded his arms and grew quiet as he explained. “I was just a tool, a means to an end. I hardly think any would remember me. Now that I’m…for all purposes ‘dead’, who would believe it if they did recognize me. I would be dismissed as only vague resemblance.”   
  
**Comfort omega…**  
  
Bruce really wanted to, but Loki was a bit like a wild animal. Something beautiful and rare that you wanted to care for, yet for the same reason you never could cage. Comforting him when he was so clearly uncomfortable was the equivalent of petting an injured bobcat.  Still he wanted to at least offer a some thin support just to see if the omega would allow it.   
  
The alpha took a step into Loki’s space, lowering his head to catch the omegas eyes with his own. “I find it hard to think anyone could simply dismiss you.”   
  
Loki’s face colored softly at the gentle compliment. “You are a strange man Bruce Banner.”   
  
“So I’ve heard.”

* * *

  
  
As the days went on Bruce realized he was becoming dangerously attached. He worried about Loki, thought about the omega even when he wasn’t near. He had it bad.   
  
He came to this horrible epiphany one morning as the alpha sat out side of the cave watching the sunrise. Bruce liked to do this from time to time. It helped to clear his mind and find his center, today though dawn was less that settling.   
  
**Omega sick**  
  
 _He’s not sick, he’s fussy and stubborn. He’ll be fine go back to sleep._  
  
 **Bruce bad alpha….  Hulk be better.**  
  
Bruce ignored the petulant growling his head and tried to focus on the colors lighting the eastern sky, the cool breeze shifting through the trees..   
  
**Loki need strong alpha… Bruce puny.**  
  
 _Would you shut up? Loki has a place to sleep and food, weather he eats it or not is up to him. I’m not forcing him and neither are you._  
  
Of course then he couldn’t stop thinking about how much thinner and paler Loki was beginning to seem. Even if the proud omega kept, his head high and posture straight as a pine. Bruce could see the wear around the edges. He knew from sharing a bed that Loki shivered through the night and ended up pressed to his side for warmth.   
  
Bruce told himself it was because the omega wasn’t used to living this way, that Loki would grow accustom.  Then it occurred to him that he was planning for Loki to grow accustom to his way of life. Bruce had completely skipped the idea of helping get Loki to a new village, he had even discouraged it.   
  
“What am I doing… he can’t stay.”   
  
**Loki can’t leave.**  
  
Hulk was right, even if Bruce knew it would be better for Loki to be back in the comfort of a real home with warm meals - what kind of life was it for him before? The alpha recalled all of their conversations and with the exception of only a handful of close ties, Loki always seemed so sad about his life. Bruce recognized that lingering darkness in the omegas lovely green eyes. He knew that look because he’d had it in the past.   
  
The painful memories of trying to plunge a dagger into his own chest, only to have the blade bend against green skin. Hulk was right, Bruce wasn’t so strong. So maybe Bruce was wrong about Loki as well, maybe the omega wasn’t all right. 

* * *

  
  
That morning after Loki had woken and they sat to eat Bruce watched the omega pick at the fermented beans cooked roots.   
  
“Loki, you never seem hungry in the morning. Do they not have morning meals in Asgard?”   
  
The omega looked up, tired hollows under his brilliant eyes stood out more in the pale light. “We do… just nothing like this.”   
  
“Oh, well I suppose I’ve just gotten used to this. I tend to eat for efficacy these food give quiet a lot of energy and are plentiful in this area.” Bruce said scooping up more of the sticky brown beans. It was an acquired taste. “What sort of foods do you prefer, if there are any greens or …”  
Loki interrupted by pushing the bowl away, “No greens… I understand as a healer you have great knowledge of plants but must you eat them at every sitting?  Meat Bruce! You live in a forest, surely you have plentiful animals!” Loki groaned    
  
“Ah I see, I don’t eat meat. As I said I’m no hunter.” Bruce laughed and rubbed the back of his neck, “I actually caught a rabbit once but let it go because I felt terrible about it.”   
  
In a way Loki found it sweet, this ‘monster’ everyone feared and to a point worshiped was just a kind man who couldn’t hurt anything. At least nothing, that hadn’t hurt him first. The omega pulled the bowl back and looked at its contents. “I have gotten used to being with out many things,  perhaps I can learn to live from the earth as you do.”   
  
That afternoon while Loki was resting Bruce went out to the lagoon, when he returned ha had a few fish. They were not  large but he was confident they were edible (he had seen predatory animals paw them from the shallow pools in the summer) He felt less guilty about scaling and boning the wall-eyed creatures.   
  
Hulk of course was pleased that puny Bruce was providing better for their omega.   
  


 


	14. Chapter 13 - Because you’re different

Loki was doing the one thing he swore he’d never do. He was falling for an alpha. It seemed ridiculous, that he had been happier here in the middle of nowhere than he had in his life. How many suitors had tried to turn his head, how many ill fated matched had he been forced to sit through? Yet this just seemed to happen.   
  
He would fall in love with a cursed man wouldn’t he? The omega shook his head with a soft smile, almost hearing his mother’s voice ‘my little Loki, you can never take the easy road can you?’   
  
“I suppose I cannot.” He said to the empty night sky, pulling the fur about his shoulders tighter.   
  
The leaves would change soon, he could feel it. Loki always preferred to cold, even when the bracing air would send most running into there homes to stoke the fire - Loki would linger out in the village. He loved when the first snow came. He could fondly remember as a child how he and his brothers would run as the specks of white wept from the skies.  He was the smallest in those days and would always center himself between Thor and Badlr, holding onto there winter capes with his small hands.    
  
If he closed his eyes, he could still see the rich crimson dye his eldest brother preferred and the softer shade of rose his beta brother wore.  He could see his mother with her gentle smiles ushering them back inside, and even when his father would tug all of the boys up into his lap and tell them stories by the fire.   
  
“Loki, are you alright?”   
  
Bruce called out to him shattering the memory. “What?”  
  
The alpha stood over him reaching out to cup his face, the healers thumb stroked beneath his eye smearing the moisture gathered there.  It was then Loki realized he was crying.   
  
“Loki, I asked if you were ok.” Bruce sounded worried as he knelt down looking him over.   
  
He smiled and gently took the kind alphas hands. “I am well, just …thinking too much of the past.”  
  
“You know…” Bruce began, “If you ever wanted to, I would help you find another village. I know living out here isn’t easy and you shouldn’t have to live this way.”   
  
“What if I want to? What if this is the first time in a long time living has meant more than just breathing?”   
  
Bruce searched those eyes of forest green, a color he never thought he’d find such beauty in. He saw the truth of it in those eyes. Loki had truly been unhappy before, for whatever reason he was happy now. Bruce never wanted to see that happiness fades. “You know this is a bad idea.”  
  
The corner of the omega’s lips quirked “Bad ideas are usually the most fun.”  
  
“Not to mention the fact that I’m dangerous.”

“Danger can be very interesting.”   
  
Bruce hung his head with an airy chuckle, “You’re a strange man Loki Odinson.”   
  
The ravenette smiled even more, the charming little lines crinkling at his eyes. Bruce loved this smile the most, “So I’ve heard.”

* * *

  
  
The following days passed with a certain ease about them. Subtle touches when they would sit near one another - a hand atop the others, shoulders brushing. Loki was careful in his actions; it seemed Bruce was just as shy when it came to anything more intimate. It was understandable, the man didn’t trust himself.   
  
Loki did trust him though, not only him but every part. Little by little, touches grew more tentative and even some light nuzzling in the morning and scenting in the evening.   
  
One evening as they bedded down, he watched Bruce taking large smooth river stones from around the fire to place under the bed palette. Loki had told him it wasn’t so cold for that yet but the alpha just tucked his head down and did it anyway.    
  
Bruce was already taking responsibility for his comfort, it was sweet really. Loki could remember when he was small and still slept tucked to his mothers side how his father would do the same thing.  When he was a bit older and he slept next to his brother Badlr, Thor would place the heated stones under their bed. Loki remembered the first year he tended to himself, Badlr had gone and Thor was away with the last hunting party of the season - he felt almost sad reading his bed. His mother had told him ‘one day soon you will have a home of your own and a loving alpha my sweet one.’ in a way he wanted this. Maybe not then, then he had scoffed and said ‘I’m not such a fool that I can’t care for myself.’ Of course, Loki knew he could take care of himself; it was that he wanted someone to want to care for him. Not because of who or what he was and what status that could give them. He wanted this.   
  
Gazing from the furs watching the healer with his olive skin and rough hands, the dark hair that curled on his arms and chest. This is what Loki wanted; Bruce was doing this for him because he cared. There was nothing that Loki could give him other than his time and presence. Now Loki wanted to give more and that frightened him.   
  
“Bruce…”   
  
“Yes?” He said dumping the last pile of stones into wide shallow basin and pushing it under the pallet.   
  
“I, I’ll come into heat again or should mid winter. I thought you should know, and… well I wouldn’t be opposed to you sharing that with me.”   
  
Bruce thought he might die right here, the hopeful growling in his hindbrain doing nothing to be helpful. “Loki, I can’t. I could hurt you, I’ve never done that before and I could never forgive myself if something happened to you.”   
  
**Hulk not hurt omega…**  
  
 _Maybe not intentionally but it could happen._

“Come here…” Loki held out his hands not taking no for an answer. Bruce climbed into the furs and allowed the omega to drape over him. This had become somewhat of a nightly ritual.   
  
Despite Loki being a head taller, he still preferred to curl up with his head on Bruce’s chest. Just as he did now, gently taking the nervous Alphas hands and guiding them around his body. “I trust you, more than I have trusted anyone. It frightens me, but not in the way, that it frightens you. I don’t fear pain, I have known it often enough - what I fear is losing this.” He said placing his palm over the alphas heart. “I have never known this feeling and I am selfish man. I want to keep it forever; I want to do all those foolish things that I used to ridicule other omega for.”   
  
Loki moved straddling the alphas hips, Bruce groaned softly at the feel of the warm heavy body slotted against his own. He couldn’t help but run his palm up the lean pallid flesh of the omegas chest. He could feel Loki’s heart beating quickly beneath his palm.   
  
“I want this; I want anything you’re willing give.”  
  
Bruce tugged Loki down, lips brushing the omegas chin and jaw. Wrapping his arms around that strong but slender form.  “I want to I do, but I’m so scared. Every time I close my eyes, I think about how badly I could hurt you. How I’d be stuck watching it happen, completely helpless.”   
  
The ravenette peppered kisses on his loves face. “Listen to me, you are not a monster. You are a kind man and a good alpha. Hulk is not a monster because he is apart of you. He is strong and brave, and I do not fear him.”   
  
That night the wall inside of Bruce Banner came crumbling down. Most alphas’ would be ashamed to say that that they cried in the arms of their omega. He wasn’t… he let go of the fear and for the first time since he was a little boy, sheltered in his mothers arms, he felt safe.    
  
Even if there was no cure for this curse, perhaps he could live with it, live with the goliath in his head. If this was living, then he could accept it. If the rage he carried meant protecting this, it was no longer a burden on his soul. 


	15. Chapter 14 - A storm is coming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Ok so I thought about this and I feel like Hela needs a face, so I racked my brain thinking of appropriate actresses/musicians, who would make a fantastic face for this fic and *drum roll* The part of Lady Hela shall be played by Cate Blanchett mostly because there has been some chatter that she may play a female villain in Thor: Ragnarok. Although Hela in this work is more benevolent. Any who hope that helps to clear a picture in your minds.

When Barton came to him Thor was angry, not with the archer - it was just any mention of Loki made him hurt.   
  
It had been difficult in the days following his younger brother’s death, for all of them. Thor has made sure to send a messenger to his brother Badlr with the news and the response was that the younger man was greatly sadden – and now wished even less to return home.   
  
Thor had no choice but to leave his ancestral home, now residing with his newly bonded mate. He had been unable to look at his father fallowing the sacrifice and his mother’s weeping broke his heart. Only now, after so long could he even pass through the threshold of the chieftain’s home and not feel like destroying everything in sight.  
  
This news brought back to life that very pain that burned around his heart.  
  
Hearing what the other alpha had to say only obliged to boil his anger that much more. How could the priestess have abandoned her duty? How could his brother have been made to suffer so? Loki was forsaken enough in life, but to be left to die so horribly.  
  
The prince thanked his friend for telling him and assured Clint that in all of his travels into the wood Thor had seen no sign of the beast, or his brother.   
  
“I searched as far as the sun would permit, if only to have some remains to lay to rest. I found nothing, I do not know where the altar of the forest is and none would tell me that I might look there; however, you may tell your kindly omega to rest his fears. Loki resides with the gods now.”   
  
After Barton had left, the Thor clenched his fist trying to cool his temper. He had to speak with the priestess herself.  
  
The incense fogged the temple air, veiling the practitioners in white smog. This was supposed to give her peace, give her reflection – it did not. Wanda sat looking at the gently carved face of the god of wisdom, watching the light play over the stone and reflects over the yellow gem on the deities forehead used to center her.   
  
Now it seemed to only reflect her gaze, twisting her dark eyes and changing them. Making them look almost…green.   
  
“Lady Maximoff,”   
  
A deep rumbling voice called out behind her, called her from her failed attempt at meditation. She knew the voice and felt lead gathering in her stomach. This was the moment she was dreading, ever since that day she had sat in the chieftain’s home…and lied.   
  
“Thor, my prince. Have you come to seek wisdom as well?” She said, carefully hiding her discomfort.  
  
“The only wisdom I seek does not come from the gods.”   
  
The priestess turned full to him her dark red robes fanning around her feet. “I see, I do not suppose my brother approached you as it would be unfitting for an omega to do such a thing. His alpha then? Barton is your shield brother, after all.” Feigning cool indifference hopeful that if her masquerade of strength and regality resembled that of her teacher Lady Hela, that Thor would not think it possible to disrespect her.  
  
However, she was not Hela, and her words were thinly disguised for what hid behind them – fear.   
  
“Barton told me because I had a right to know, you should count yourself lucky that I came here to confirm this before seeking my father’s council.” The threat was clear as the alpha spoke.  
  
She lied; failure to complete the ritual to the letter could reap doom on the village. That had crossed her mind in those first few days following the sacrifice, yet nothing had happened. The rite stated that the sacrifice’s blood must be spilled by one chosen by the chieftain. She did that, she cut the omega though not deep enough. Surely, his blood called the monster to the altar.   
  
Even so, her lie would be punished. Part of the young priestess felt she deserved it, wondered if paying a penance would mute the screams that filled her restless nights.   
  
“I understand, but know that if I fell short in my duties it was only because I feared for my life.”  
  
The alphas nostrils flared and his jaw clenched, “I never wanted any of this for my brother, and it was a cold comfort to know perhaps he was spared in his final hours. That at least he had some dignity in death.”   
  
Wanda lowered her head in shame, “Then does his memory a service and end this. I will stand by your choice when you lead us. While my faith in the gods is strong my faith in their creations wane, I wonder if we might be slighting them more by destroying their greatest gifts to us.”  
  
“I fully intend to end this; I may well tear down these temples. What god stands in this place silently while my mother morns, how much blood do your altars crave?” he asked, everything in him wanting to smash the idols to pieces.   
  
“Calm your anger Odinson…” a voice called through the temple halls. One that reverberated off the walls and concealed its owner in the echoes.   
  
Thor turned looking around through the lingering smoke, his eyes following each shadow the wooden pillars cast. “Lady Hela. Do I not have right to morn my own brother?”   
  
“No.” Her voice lit beside his ear and the prince tensed. “You do not…”  
  
The old priestess had an uncanny ability to simply appear. Perhaps the incenses was fogging his senses.   
  
“He was my brother.” Thor growled turning to face her.   
  
The priestess stood tall draped in black, her face obscured by the heavy hood of her robes. “Was he?” She asked, a slow smile lacing her words. “There are some who are born blood of our blood, and yet they are not ours to keep.”   
  
“I have not the time for your riddles! Do you know your apprentice failed to deliver my brother to the other side, to give him the honor of a son from the tribe of Asgard?” He glared again at Wanda, “Did you even give him his rites?”   
  
“I beseeched the gods on his behalf on the journey.” The younger woman assured but was interrupted by her teachers raised hand.   
  
Hela’s long pale fingers adorned with talon like nails held the alphas silence. “It was un needed. Just as your tears and the tears of your mother are unneeded.”   
  
“How dare you!” Thor bellowed, “You would damn my brother! You would insult my mother!”   
  
The priestesses moved forward fluid and swift, her pale hand clamping over the raging alphas mouth. The strength in her grip surprised Thor. The pinpricks along his cheek and jaw drew beads of blood around her raven claws. “Mind your manners boy, you talk and you do not listen. You look and you do not see, all of this blustering…pointless.” Her nails drew way, tapping his chin.    
  
For a brief moment, her cloak shifted and Thor held his breath, surely, he had not seen what his mind supplied. Hidden in the shadow -bone and bare sinew surrounding a milky white eye. No… it could not have been.   
  
“You are a thunderstorm young one. All sound and light, the only danger about you is if you manage to strike anything. Loki… He was a blizzard, cold words and frozen stares. For one of such a nature he was…ah no…is.  Loki is exceptional sharp as glass and yet fragile to the sun” Her tone dipped into sarcasm - “How fortunate that he had your shadow to shelter him.”   
  
“My lady…you speak as if…” Wanda looked to her teacher, surely the woman could not mean.  
  
“As if my brother is still alive.”   
  
Hela smiled, brushing past the two as she walked to the altar. “It will be, exceptionally cold this season I think.” She said, brushing her fingertips over the dagger there, “Be careful should you venture into the wood young prince. There are beasts more possessive than even you.”  
  
“Beasts you say, I do not fear any man or any beast!” Thor growled storming out of the temple  
  
Hela looked into the silver chalice running her fingertip around its gleaming rim. “Always so impulsive that one.”   
  
“My lady, I…”  
  
“Quiet… Wanda, we must prepare our selves. There is a storm on the horizon and the forest too dry; there will be much sorrow in the coming days.” The elder priestess left the altar room with a swirl of her dark cloak.   
  
When Wanda approached the altar, the noticed the once clear water had turned to ash. 

* * *

  
  
Thor tore through the warriors quarters, “Siff, tell me now where was the place you took my brother!”  
  
“Have you gone mad? I have told you before I will not!” She countered, returning to cleaning her blade.   
  
Fandral moved between them, “Come now Thor hasn’t it been long enough. If you keep this up your mother will never find peace. Just…let it rest.”   
  
“No, I have come from Lady Hela’s temple. My brother is alive and I intend to bring him home, now tell me where!”   
  
They thought it was insane, but if the priestess had said, it must be true. Such blind faith.   
  
“Will you aid me or not.”   
  
Siff had her doubts, but the rest of the worriers had long pledged their swords to the young prince. “ You know that if we do this what we could bring down on the village. If the beast of the forest has taken him, if that monster is holding Loki then stealing him away could doom us all.”  She hoped to rationalize the threat.   
  
“Then stay.” Thor said, lifting his stone hammer from the weapons rack. “I will kill the monster; I will be victorious and save my brother.” He looked to the others seeing Fandral wavering.   
  
“I don’t know” The blonde said, “You know I would have done anything for Loki, despite his. Frosty attitude toward me. Thor, Lady Hela is… well there is a reason your father insisted she take on an apprentice. She is strange and speaks in riddles, surely you miss heard her.”   
  
Odinson looked to his warriors, “I heard what I needed to hear. That Loki lives, I will save my brother. Come with me Fandral, I will give you my blessing to care for him. Loki will need a strong alpha to heal him from that creatures torment when he returns.” Thor placed a hand on his friends shoulder. “I trust you would still wish to bond him?”   
  
Fandral looked in his friends eyes; if this quest would someone show Thor the truth then…perhaps that was enough. If they did by some miracle come across Loki, then the omega would likely have less fight than before and with care and time, he might make for a good mate. “Yes, of course. I will ride with you, let’s kill ourselves a monster!”   
  
  



	16. Chapter 15- Protect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Ok lil visual aid, there is some talk about Balder in this one, and the actor I pick for him is Lee Pace, he’s a year older than Tom Hiddelston and they share enough similar features I think it would be believable as them being related. If you don’t know who Lee pace is, he played Thraduil. He’s also been in a marvel film - Guardians of the galaxy as Ronan. But for appearance sake think Thraduil with brown hair.

The air was crisp, it seemed summer had given way to fall almost overnight.   
  
“You may have to leave for the villages earlier than expected; the winter snap will come much sooner it seems.” Loki said, plucking a golden leaf from a low hanging branch, inspecting it as one would a fine gem.  “You could still invite me along you know.”  
  
Bruce smiled to himself plucking a few mushrooms. “Maybe, if you’re good.”  
  
The omega snorted crossing his arms, “Am I not always? I think you could have come by far less gracious company. Just think if they had thought to sacrifice one of those lowly whining omega. Then you would be left with a sniveling little imp that had to be coddled and cared for. You Bruce Banner should count yourself lucky.”   
  
**Puny omega…**  
  
 _Yes but we can’t burst his bubble._   
  
Bruce set his basket down and wrapped his arms around Loki, “I’m very lucky, which is why I don’t want to risk anything.”  
  
Loki conceded if only in part, “Then I will be here alone, do you know how dull that will be. I could cover myself perhaps, and would it not be safer that you can keep watch on me?”  
  
 **Not want Loki alone... Dangerous.**  
  
 _He’s an adult._  
  
 **Hmm… adult tide to post, adult hunted by wolves…**  
  
 _smart-ass..._  
  
Hulk had a point though, Loki’s record of accomplishment for safety was not the greatest, and the alpha felt his skin prickle at the thought of leaving him with only a dagger and kiss goodbye.  Bruce turned giving the taller man a very serious look. “You will wear my cloak at all times, you will not argue with anyone and you stay with me in the crowds understand.”  
  
Loki looked far too pleased. “Of course my heart, I place my honor as youngest son of the house of Odin upon it.”  In retrospect that honor meant very little.

* * *

The horses tore through the forest leaping over ravines and root cropping’s as their riders pushed them farther and farther. Thor did not want to wait another day to find his lost brother. Images were already flashing in the alphas head of what could be waiting ahead.   
  
What horrors had Loki seen in these long months, had he been beaten, maimed, and subjected to the vilest of defilement. Thor would get satisfaction for this wrong, this horrible thing he could not prevent. On the other hand, maybe it was because he could have, he could have struck the night guards and whisked his brother away. Taken Loki to the village where balder lived and hidden him.  He could have convinced Sif and Volstagg to take his side, it would have been hard but it might have worked. Yet he was no silver tongue. He had not the skill of Loki’s clever words and coy smiles.    
  
He had failed his brother, his littlest sibling – the baby omega that Thor had sworn to protect. That burned his pride, Loki was right about him. Thor was just like his father, he thought of glory and the tribe. He followed laws lain down by dead men.  Now he would have to look at his brother, look into those broken eyes and know – he was just as responsible.   
  
“Are you sure this is the way!” Thor shouted over the thundering hoof beats.   
  
“I would not lie to you now or ever, look there just between those trees ahead.” Sif shouted back pointing to the north.   
  
Sure enough, he could see it, cobbled pillars of broken stone. The archways now over grown with moss and vines.  There at it center on a pavilion stood a stone post with ruined chains.  
  
Thor felt his stomach clench when they entered the holy place. The smell of blood rinsed away by rain but still he could see the remaining stains now forever tainting the rocks. This was where so many ha died, and for what?   
  
“Right, we split up, look for any place where the beast might hide or any signs of a small shelter. If Loki has been able to escape on his own he may be injured and holding somewhere.” Thor spoke directing the group out for the search.   
  
Once the alpha was, alone he approached the altar, hefting up one of the rusted iron chains. “I will find you, I will make this right.”

* * *

  
Bruce had grown tired of Loki’s jesting and teasing for a time and sent the omega off with a basket and a good-natured swat on the behind. They needed more of a certain kind of berry to create burn salve to sell at market. It was valued in the winter months when many had fires in their hearths. Accidents did happen after all.

It was while the omega was alone that he heard footsteps coming from the east. He pressed himself tightly into the hollow of a large tree and listened. He felt his heart break hearing the voice, the voice he once loathed for its value and exuberance. Now he found he missed that blustering baritone, however no good would come of Thor finding him.   
  
He could not go back now, and would not go back no matter how the fool begged or threatened.   
  
It crossed Loki’s mind to go to his brother, to tell him to leave, but then.  
  
“I will kill that monster...”   
  
He heard the words and his blood ran cold, Thor perhaps thought him dead and was now out for vengeance. He could not allow that. First, he needed to tell Bruce to run.  
  
Loki carefully extracted himself from the tree and looked to be sure none would see his hasty retreat. He did not need Thor or any of his lackeys following him.   
  
The omega cut left the basket and ran back to where he had left the alpha; Bruce was collecting bark used in medicinal teas.   
  
“Bruce…Bruce where are you  ...”  
  
A curly head popped up behind a cluster of bushes, “I’m right here...what…Loki what’s the matter.” Bruce was suddenly on alert seeing how will the omegas eyes where.   
  
“You need to go, run as far as you can. It’s my brother and his group of sword wielding imbecilic, I do not know their intent yet, I would assume revenge but perhaps if he sees that, I am alive and well he will leave. Until then you could be in danger.”   
  
**“Not leave omega!”**  
  
 _“Way ahead of you.”_  
  
“If we leave we leave together. He might just think I’m a normal healer the way you did. We can confront him and show him that you’re safe and…”

Bruce’s words where cut by a shout.   
  
“I found a camp site!” It was Fandral.  
  
Loki cursed under his breath at the foolish alpha for shrieking like that when there very well could have been danger around. Like ringing a dinner bell.   
  
Bruce grabbed his hand and whispered, “It will be ok I promise.”  
  
Loki really did hope so.

* * *

“Quit your yelling daft fool.” Volstagg admonished the younger alpha. “If that monsters about you’ll have us all killed.”  
  
Fandral just shrugged, “I haven’t seen anything and everything in there seems less like a monster and more like some old hermit.  Though I do think an omega’s here, maybe Loki did succeed in getting away. Or maybe it’s just a pair of old codgers living out here.”  
  
The larger man poked his head into the cave sniffing around, “Can’t be sure, it’s been so long and it wasn’t as if I made a habit of getting my nose all over the boy. I’d think you would know better the way you fawned after him like a pup.”   
  
The blond scoffed. “I didn’t fawn; I was courting him if the fool would have accepted he wouldn’t be in this mess.”   
  
Volstagg rolled his eyes and made a call into the woods, the sound answered back three times in succession. “Thor will know then, even if they aren’t here now they will come back. The embers are still warm in the antechamber.”   
  
Unannounced to the two, Loki and Bruce move along the eastern wall of the cave. Bruce’s initial plan was to reason with the alphas but as he craned, his head around a corner to hear that thought began to dissolve.   
  
“What state you think he’ll be in when we find him?” Fandral questioned, “I mean, it’s a bit wild out here and Loki was difficult on his best days.”  
  
“Afraid the kitten has grown claws?” Volstagg jested, punching the younger man’s shoulder. “I think that would be far better than the alternative. If he’s still with that beast who knows what left, poor bastard.”   
  
“True, I’d hope though this taught him his place.”  
  
“Careful” the large alpha warned, “you don’t want Thor hearing you say that, omega or not that’s still his baby brother. You would do well to remember that if you want to bond with the Loki. Not sure why in the realm want to do that o’course.”  
  
“He’s beautiful, I’m beautiful… Think of the pups we would have, he likes me he has just been fighting it. Remember the kiss we shared!”  
  
The bearded alpha rolled his eyes, “You were children and he bit your lip.”  
  
“It was a love nip.”  
  
“You bled.”  
  
Fandral crossed his arms in defiance, “He’s a bit rough, and it’s an acquired taste.”  
  
“I think you have an acquired taste for cold glares and lithe bodies, may we all thank the gods Balder wasn’t an omega or you would have been killed by his bow for trying.” Volstagg said with a deep laugh.   
  
“What’s to say that stopped me?” The blonde smirked.

  
  
Hidden in the shadow Loki felt his ears burn, certainly his brother would have never…

 

The older alpha raised his bushy brows in question, “No…”

  
Fandral preened like a peacock, “I did, and the fairer sons of Odin are sweet as honey. I aim to bed another, after this how could Loki refuse me. I will be his savior, when we find him I’ll be sure Thor has his rounds with the monster and I get a bit, for myself naturally - can’t let you lot have all the fun. Then I’ll take that wounded little bird in hand and he’ll be gagging for my knot come his next heat.”

  
  
 **OMEGA OURS**    
  
Bruce felt his blood bail through his veins the more he listened  
  
“I wouldn’t be to sure about that. I see Thor and Sif, best mind your tongue.”  
  
“Just buying my time, the only tongue I’ll need to mind is a silver one.”   
  
That was is, Bruce clenched his first and tried to breath through his nose. He could feel Loki’s hand at his back and the omega whispering to him to stay calm. Telling him they should just go, he knew Loki was right but the rage pooling in his gut was something primal. The urge to defend and claim.   
  
“Bruce pleases…” Loki tried watching the greenish hue ripple over the alphas skin. Not now, they didn’t need this now. “..Damn it Bruce.”   He moved in front of Bruce and took his face between his hands. “Stay here and calm down, promise me.”  
  
“Loki I…”  
  
“No, I will reason with my brother. Pay no mind to Fandral he’s harmless, his bravado far outweighs his intelligence. They can’t see you like this, so please for me - Stay.”  Loki leaned forward and placed a kiss between his alphas brows, because that’s what Bruce was now, bound or not it was then Loki decided. This man was his and he had to protect him.   
  


* * *

Thor gripped his hammer tighter, he had found large footprints in the sandy banks of the near by lagoon. The monster was here somewhere, more disturbing was the smaller prints at the waters edge. Loki had been with the beast recently, on the one hand it meant his brother was indeed alive. However, the idea that Loki had become a monstrous creatures plaything was heart wrenching.   
  
“Have you found anything in the cave?” Thor asked approaching his shield brothers, Sif and Hogan following him.   
  
Volstagg motioned to the opening of the caver that was have hidden in thatch. “Someone’s been living there for quiet awhile; there’s also been an omega here. Doesn’t look much like where a beast would live though. Perhaps Loki escaped or there’s an old hermit who lives out here; might have seen something.”  
  
“We should wait, if whoever lives here returns they could help us.” Hogan suggested.   
  
 “You don’t have to wait.”  
  
They all looked up at the voice, like a ghost from the past it’s owned steeped through the willows and holly.   
  
Thor felt his heart shudder at the sight. Loki, he was thinner but not so, that it was alarming. His skin was clean and free from any wounds. He wore a faded olive color robe; it looked old and far longer than what most wore in Asgard. Still it was Loki.  
  
“Brother…” Before the words had finished the Alpha rushed forward gathering the slender male in his arms. “Loki, I… I thought you dead. How glad it makes me to hold my brother in my arms once more.”  
  
Loki wanted to roll his eyes at the exuberance, but he didn’t because in a way he had missed this. Letting his arms settle around his big brothers back, and if perhaps the young omega pressed his face to his siblings neck. Well that was no ones business.  “I am very much alive, no thanks to our father.”  
  
Thor pulled away, his featured etched with sorrow, “He did was he thought was best, he has mourned you. If ever father has regretted any action, it was this one. All is well now brother, you will return and I will lead an army if I must to destroy the monster that has held you captive.”  
  
“Thor… I am not going back.” Loki could see the confusion in his brother’s eyes, “I don’t want to go back and I am no more a captive than you.”

  
“He’s traumatized, poor dear.” Fandral chirped. 

 

The omega gave him a sideways glare, “Shut your mouth before I cut out your tongue.”  
  
“Sounds like Loki to me,” Sif mumbled   
  
Thor was inclined to believe it though, how could Loki want to stay in the grips of some creature. “I don’t… have you gotten away? You are living here in this…this hovel with who?”  
  
Loki stepped out of arms reach, he needed to end this. “My arrangements are secure, you need not worry. The creature will not return and there will be no need for further bloodshed of innocent omega. Go home Thor, go home and never return to this place.”   
  
This was wrong; this was not how it was suppose to happen. He was supposed to find Loki and save him, take him home. Home to their mother and father, to the village. “Loki, you have been bewitched by this monster. You are safe now, I will not allow you to suffer any longer.”  
  
“Do I look like I am suffering! You fool, never have you listen to me. I do not want to go with you and I am not bewitched I…” he could do this; he could spin the finest lies just as he always did. Loki lifted his chin in defiance, “I have mastered the beast, he obeys me and unless you wish to anger me you will leave.”   
  
“He’s mad…” Fandral came forward, “Thor, I know you didn’t want to but… we may have to.”   
  
“He’s right, just take him” Sif added already pulling rope from her belt.   
  
Loki backed away, casting an eye to the thick ivy. He willed Bruce to run, poured the plea into his eyes and hoped the alpha would heed him. “Do not touch me; do not lay a hand on me!”   
  
“Brother…” Thor sounded so broken. “I’m sorry but you are unwell, the beast is without reason and as skilled as you are… What you say is not possible. Your mind has been tainted, please let us help you. Think of mother.”  
  
That was a low blow, the memory of Frigga’s tears the day he was taken came to the forefront of Loki’s mind. It wasn’t fair; Loki had to harden his heart against the sorrow. He loved his mother but he could never go back, not now… Not when he finally had something worth living for. “I will not go back.”   
  
Thor turned away and for a moment, Loki thought he had won. That would be to easy though wouldn’t it, and Thor had never done as he was asked, not by Loki. The alpha was to proud and pigheaded.  “Take him…”  Thor said as he began to walk way, unwilling to watch.   
  
Sif and Fandral advanced and Loki bolted, he didn’t make it far before the alphas took him down. Fandral tackled him to the ground hard knocking the wind from his lungs.   
  
“Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll take wonderful care of you.” The alpha purred in his ear.   
  
The disgusting sound was short lived with a roar split the air.   
  
“No…” Loki voice breaking and breathless. Not Bruce, please not this. 

* * *

The weight was suddenly gone and Loki rolled to his back still gasping for air. His chest burned as he managed to raise up on his elbows. Hulk stood over him and Fandral was picking him self up from were he’d been flung.  Loki could hear Thor shouting and the other warriors, this wouldn’t end well. This wasn’t some attack from wet behind the ear soldiers of terrified hunters. This was the tribe’s finest warriors. This was his brother.   
  
“Don’t. Just run.” Loki croaked staggering to his feet.   
  
“LOKI GET AWAY!” Thor shouted

  
The others were circling, their weapons drawn and Hulk was just standing there - shielding him. “NO!” The omega shouted, “You see I speak the truth now go!”   
  
“I am not abandoning you brother! I will not lose you again!”   
  
**“Loki stay, Loki Hulks now!”**  
  
Words were lost now as Thor charged in. Hulk looked down at the omega briefly before entering the fray.   
  
**“Go, go to safe place.”**  
  
It killed him to run, but Bruce had made him promise, made him swear. _‘If anything ever happens you run and you wait for me, but no longer than a day. Then you head east from here just keep going until you find a trail and follow it. You said your brother; Balder is in the east right?  You find him and you stay safe… Promise me.”_  
  
Loki felt his heartbreak as he ran.

 


	17. Chapter 16 - Burned and broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so, i'm not super great with action.. i tried though so i hope you enjoy this.

Loki made it to the lagoon but he couldn’t go any farther, _‘hide behind the falls, there’s a small crawl space behind them that opens into the cavern under the mountain. You will be safe there.’_  
  
“I can’t….” The omega tugged at his hair as he heard the skirmish in the forest. The sound of trees cracking and men yelling. “No... I won’t I won’t just stand here and let it happen! I’m not like them!”  
  
How could he just hide, just like before when Thor would user him in with the other omega, hiding like children while the alpha protected the village? Just like when he was scolded for acting out, how proud, he was of Steve when the omega grinned with a busted lip because he fought back. Or how he laughed when young Pietro could best Fandral in a foot race. “I’m more than just some tool, I am not delicate or useless.”  
  
He knew Bruce just wanted to protect him, but who would protect Bruce? They were a pair, he did not cower behind his alpha – he stood beside him.  
  
Loki snapped off a low hanging willow limb, stitching the makeshift weapon in his grasp. It was no blade but it would have to do.

* * *

  
  
“It’s too strong, damn thing hides tougher than mail.” Volstagg groan falling back as the Thor charged forward once again.  
They had backed the creature into a grove attacking the beast at all sides.  
  
“Do not lose heart!” The prince roared striking Hulk only to be batted away. Still it would seem Thor was making some progress if the dark mottled patches on the giants verdant skin were any indication.  
  
Fandral picked himself up taking stock of his injuries, Loki was not worth getting his chest crushed. “It’s not a question of heart, its sheer stamina.”  
  
“Have that complaint often don’t you.” Sif quipped, spitting blood out into the grass.  
  
He was right though, even if they could hurt the beast they couldn’t kill it. Not like this, it would take something larger and fiercer. Something all consuming.  
  
“We have to burn it…” She said, sharing a look with Hogan. They had considered it could come to this, Thor was to wild trying to seek his pound of flesh. The prince would fight his way into exhaustion before giving up. They couldn’t have that, they needed to end this and find Loki. Fire cleansed, it was alive and hungry. “Do it.:”  
  
She would deal with Thor later, it was better that they got out of this alive.  


* * *

  
  
Loki crept toward the grove were the sounds of battle were the loudest. He had no idea what he was going to do short of throwing himself between the fighters.  
  
Making his way through the underbrush, he spotted Thor, Sif, Volstagg and Fandral. The last was moving behind hulk slowly with his sword drawn. Possibly to catch the Giant distracted and slash at his Achilles.  Not today.  
  
The omega sauntered out of the tree line whipping the willow limb back and forth before striking out, the limb slicing through the air and wrapping around the sneaky alphas throat. With a swift jerk, the surprised blond fell backward, fingers scrambling at his neck.  
  
“You’re not the only one light on their feet, or have you forgotten Fandral?” Loki sneered steeping over the downed Alpha, not caring the placement of his heel as the tromped over Fandral’s crotch.  
  
“Thor stop! I am not wounded animal or abandoned child you must save!” Loki shouted as he stormed through the field.  
  
He had to stop this before it was too late, he had no idea how long Bruce or Hulk rather, could remain in control. He knew it could be a few hours judging from his first encounter with the gentle giant. Still, that was not in constant combat of this level. What if Bruce returned? The gentle healer would be no match for the foolish warrior.  
  
“Loki stay back! This is not your fight!” Thor insisted looking to his fellow shield brothers for help  
  
“I’ve got him!” Volstagg said making his way toward Loki. The omega held his ground striking out with the willow once again. The fauna whip wrapped around the large mans forearm and was pulled away, “Not this time princess. You’re coming with me.” He said, easily heaving Loki up onto his shoulder.  
  
“Put me down now you malodorous boor! Gargantuan idiot, you you. MEWLING QUIM!”  
  
The alpha rolled his eyes ignoring the screaming and trashing as he jogged away.  
  
However, the outburst had not gone unnoticed, hearing the scream Hulk turned to see the omega being carried off. In his distraction, the elder prince’s hammer connected with the giant’s temple.  
  
The beast toppled over, dazed from the blow, the inner voice of the healer screaming for him to stand.  
  
Loki shouted as the Hulk went down, this was it… his brother was going to kill his alpha. “NO! THOR NO! PLEASE!”  
  
The omega was not the only one pleading with the next chef of Asgard. Sif was doing her best to tug her fellow warrior away from the groggy monster. “Come one, you can’t kill it we need to get out of here now. Hogan is taking care of it, Thor listen to me!”  
  
Thor cast a grieved glare to the female alpha; he loathed to admit she was right. His limbs ached with fatigue and he had only once knocked the creature back. “Fine, let the fires of Helhiem take the monster. Do you hear that! Foul beast! You will burn for what you have done to my brother!”  
  
The eldest son of Odin was not normally so vengeful, yet these passing months of seeing his mother fade into silence; seeing his father grow even colder with regret; his own self loathing.  Loki may have been found but it was clear that his precious brother might yet be lost to him forever.  
  
Volstagg carried him farther away and Loki felt his heart rate jump when he spied Hogan pouring strange yellow oil onto the grass form a hide bag. He knew what it was, an invention of the house of Stark. The oil burned fast and created thick black smoke; their archers often dipped their arrows in the substance and lit them.  He watched the warrior place a flint stone at the end of the trail and cover his face with a cloth, Hogan raised his sword high.  “BRUCE! NOO!”  
  
The strike of the flint stone against the sword sparked and flashed a bright white, the oil ignited and raced in a circle around the grove. Thor and Sif dashing out with Fandral between them before the flames could hinder them.  
  
Through the high flickering flames, Loki could see Hulk struggling to his feet. He fight over a dozen wolves, take on the greatest warriors of Asgard… but fire was wild and indiscriminate.  Hulk… Bruce… They would die.  
  
Volstagg struggled now to contain the omega whose fight was renewed as the flames rose. “Loki cut it out! We are trying to help you!”    
  
The omega snarled and flanked hair kicking and nearly biting in his efforts. His vision was blurred with unshed tears and heart broken by rage. Loki tumbled from the larger mans shoulder, fingers scrambling to the short dagger holstered at the big man’s ankle. The ravenette rolled away with the blade in hand and when the alpha reached for him, he slashed.  
  
“Damn it!” The warrior pulled back his bleeding palm.    
  
Taking the other injury as opportunity Loki scrambled to his feet running back through the forest. He could already feel the heat from here; it made his face sting and the tears dry.  He did not care, it did not matter anymore. He’d let go, he’d fall into these flames and let them consume his soul if it meant he’d never have to live a day of his old life. Never have to wake alone with out the soft breath of the soft-spoken alpha against his neck.  
  
  
Thor spotted a flash of green and black through she growing smoke. Next, he saw his friend and Shield brother lumbering toward them. “It’s Loki! The fool attacked me and ran, I tried Thor but… I’m sorry…” the bearded alpha had blood smeared on his cloak and a rag bound around his hand.  “He’s lost his mind.”  
  
The others protested, told him they should all leave. Loki was lost to them, Thor would not listen. He had come this far he would not leave with out his brother, even if he had hurt him to save him.

* * *

  
Loki had gotten as close as he could, cursing the fear he felt. Unable to offer himself to the wall of fire consuming the grove. His skin felt raw and his lungs burned. “B-Bruce!”   He tried to listen but the sound of the trees breaking and the roar of the fire proved too much.  The omega fell to his knees in the ashen earth.  “If this is how I am to die…I shall… not met death on my knees.”  He choked on the smog crawling his way to proud old tree that still stood despite its branches singed bare. He clawed into the bark forcing himself onto his feet.

  “ I Loki renounce you Asgard.. I renounce …Odin. I re-renounce your Gods.” Loki closed his eyes struggling to take a breath, he could have sworn he heard a mighty bellow some where in the final crescendo of a dying land.   
  
“I have no god, but I would worship ..at the feet of my heart as broken as it maybe. For what he poured into it, that is the only holy thing I have felt.” The tree bark scratching his raw cheek, he could feel his own blood and it was cooler than the air around him. A random memory entered the omegas mind.  
  
The caves antechamber, it had been too chilly to bath in at the lagoon a few days ago. Loki had said he could handle it but Bruce in his infinite kindness shooed him back to the bed. He watched the alpha take off his tunic and slip out of the cave, Hulk was more useful when it came to carrying water.  
  
After they had sat in the antechamber by the fire. Heating the water in pots as they sat across from one another, it was so intimate yet… gentle. The feel of the healers hands on his skin, following the soaked soft cloth.  _“You’re so beautiful..”_    Bruce had said, so reverently like a man praying.  Perhaps Loki did have a god, and so had Bruce. They had become each-other’s god, they spoke their sins and received forgiveness wrapped in the others arms.  It was the first time they indulged in something more than innocent touches.  
  
Even now as the flames consumed everything around him, Loki still looked into the glowing hues of gold and amber with a strange fondness. He could still see still see them burning low among the coals. Flickering light over the walls of his hidden home. The umber tint that made Bruce’s olive skin look like gold. Maybe this was death, falling into a memory and living on inside it for all eternity.

  
Maybe that’s all eternity was, the span of a single dying memory and then - nothing. If his eternity was the feel of lush curls between his fingers and teeth teasing the hollow of his throat… well, then perhaps death wasn’t so bad.  
  
Loki felt his body lax and slide against the tree until he tumbled over into the dirt, he couldn’t be bothered to care anymore. Bruce was gone, consumed by the same flames that would soon claim him as well. Some where through the black smoke he thought he saw red. Maybe he had blood in his eye, or his oxygen-depraved mind twisting his perception. Whatever it was, it was gone soon enough. Swallowed up in blackness as the world disappeared.

* * *

  
  
Thor stumbled back through the forest carrying his brother wrapped securely in his cloak.  
  
“By the Norns… you found him, is he?” Volstagg gestured to the limp form in Thor’s arms. Fandral and Hogan moved quickly to help take the burden as the elder brother bent to catch his breath.  
  
“Alive, yes. He may not be for long if we do not reach Asgard swiftly.”  
  
Hogan nodded pulling the cloak away to have a look at the younger prince, “He’s breathing is too harsh and too shallow. We need to go now.”  
  
“Right, I’ve got him.” Fandral Lifted the omega onto his own horse and mounted the saddle holding the limp body to his chest. “Sif, ride with Thor, make sure he’s well. He took to much of the smoke himself.”  
  
“I am sound Fandral, worry not for me. Mind that you watch my brother with a careful eye, if he worsens tell me immediately.” Thor said coughing harshly before mounting his own horse. He would have liked to waist until the fire burned it self out, to confirm the beast was well and truly dead - but there was no time for that now.  
  
“It seems even the god are rejoicing your victory Thor.” Volstagg said, motioning upward as they rode away from the forest. The sky darkened with rain clouds and the boom of thunder.  
  
“Then may they watch after us on the return home, and safe guard Loki’s health.”

* * *

  
  
Loki was gone, they had taken him and Hulk had failed. Now the flames grew higher and burned as hot as his own rage. The beast stuck the earth over and over. Ignoring the shouting in his head.  
  
_Why didn’t he run! I told him to run!_  
  
_WHY COULDN’T HE JUST LISTEN!_  
  
Bruce blamed himself, if he had more control maybe this would have never happened. The others would never have attacked him as he was. This was another case of this curse damning him to a life like this - alone. For a moment Bruce tried to will Hulk to lay down, to let the fire take them. It would hurt, true it would be the worst agony.  
  
_I’ll take it, just let go… let me take it._  
  
The beast roared angrily.  
  
**PUNY BRUCE! ALL YOUR FAULT.**  
  
_I know…   We need to end this, you have to understand. This could have never been ours, never._  
  
**NO! LOKI OURS, LOKI SAY OURS.**  
  
The giant knelt in the center of the raging fire, his eyes stinging with tears. Hulk touched them in confusion… He had never cried before. He was always so angry. He was angry now but in a different way, a way that broke and pulled every part of him. The memory supplied of the death of Bruce’s mother.  
  
That was this feeling.  
  
_This is sorrow… This is grief. In its purest form - Despair_  
  
 It seemed even the sky was morning for their loss. The heavy storm clouds rolled overhead unleashing a torrent. Bruce wasn’t going to get his wish and Hulk was done fighting, done feeling like this.

* * *

  
Banner opened his eye with a few tired blinks, greeted by the scent of wet charred wood. His skin still slick with mud that coated him head to toe.    
  
He wanted this to be just another hazy nightmare, something that dawn could chase away but it wasn’t. Part of the alpha wanted to just lie down in the cold puddle and sink into the earth. Another darker part that was still sulking with anger wanted to go to the village and tear it apart.  
  
“We can’t… kill people, there’s no coming back from that.”  Bruce knew that already, he knew it when he killed his own father. It didn’t take away the hurt, it didn’t end this curse. Killing those who took Loki, destroying the omegas homeland …that wouldn’t do anything but make him into the monster they thought he was.  
  
“So are you just going to lay there little one.” A voice called out.  
  
Bruce sat up, instantly on guard - had they come back to finish the job?  
  
There was a woman in the haze of smoke. Her gown as black as the burned embers around her, there was something about her that seemed…unnatural. The same feeling Bruce had as a child when he first met his father’s teacher.  Was this woman like Strange? Or was she something more?  
  
“You’ve tasted defeat and sorrow, what will you do now? Will you run as you have before? Hide from those who would persecute you, or will you fight?”  She said, standing in the midst of all the destruction.  
  
“If I fight what good would do? It would paint an even bigger target on not just me but Loki. He’s with his family now.”  
  
The woman nodded passively, her face hidden in the shadow of her hood. “But is that who you are? Is that who he knows you to be?”  
  
Bruce staggered to his feet. This woman made no sense, and he had no idea how she got here. For all he knew she was a hallucination. “I just want to protect him.”  
  
“Then protect him, a sword is not a sword until it goes through the fire. Dose not a lotus grow in the mud. Your greatest strength is not the power from rage Bruce Banner, but the power of your mind. Even your omega knows that.”  
  
Who was he? Was he the monster? No… Loki never saw him that way, who he was to Loki was clever and kind, a survivor. “So what, I just walk in like this and talk my way to Loki?”  
  
The strange woman paused raising her head slightly, half of her face hidden in a curtain of white hair, “Well not like that, bit messy. Must make a good impression with his mother after all.” She smirked  
  
Bruce looked down shaking his head, “yeah well I don’t…” He looked up - she and was gone.  
  
“Good impression huh…worth a try.”  
  
  
  



	18. Chapter 17 - what have you done?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I was listening to I hate everything about you, by Three days grace. I feel like it sums up a lot of Loki’s feels. I have also included some art for this chapter.

Thor entered his ancestral home; it had been seven days since Loki’s rescue. Seven days of waiting and watching as his young brother lay silently in convalescence. Seven days of wondering if he had been too late.   
  
 When they brought the ravenette, back to the village - there had been complete chaos. Some elders bellowed and demanded they return the sacrifice lest they all be damned. This argument however was forgotten when the warriors indicated they had killed the beast. Since that day, the village had entered a state of jubilation, Thor and his fellows were treated as heroes. Every night they all had been favored with food and drink and the thanks of their people. Thor’s own omega had greeted him with open arms and a warm bed. Still… it was a cold comfort knows what may become of Loki, if he never recovered from the tortures he may have faced.   
  
 Loki was now seen as the poor suffered omega; already unbound Alphas had made tribute to the house of Odin seeking the hand of the still unconscious young man. Perhaps they thought that by taking in the wounded little darling it would garner them respect and honor. Surely many of those who now tried to seek the omegas hand had never before shown interest. Only one of the favors had been acknowledged –from Fandral.    
  
At least the alpha was consistent in his pursuit, and had been with the party to rescue him. Fandral was now preparing his home to receive the omega once Loki was well enough. The alpha had even stopped by every other day to place flowers at Loki’s bedside, at least when he wasn’t getting the stink eye from another of Odin’s sons who had also returned.  
  
Frigga had sent one of her handmaid on the fastest horses in the village to go and tell Balder of his younger brother’s return. The beta had come back with the maiden and since taken-up vigil with his mother at Loki’s side.  
  
“How is he?” Thor asked, ducking into the alcove bedroom.  
  
Frigga had steeped away to dispose of Loki’s soiled bandages. When they brought the omega home his skin was redden about the nose and cheeks from the flame, his fingertips sported painful burns. They were healing rapidly with the aid of healer Eir.   
  
“Still sleeping, Eir said he is breathing better now and she is hopeful.” Balder said,   
  
Most thought the beta was haughty by the way he held himself, statuesque and cold. He and Loki took after their mother, unlike Thor who looked to be cut solidly from Odin. Balder was not as many thought, he was kind and careful. Even know as he gently soothed his sleeping brother’s brow. Those long willowy fingers (another feature he and Loki shared with Frigga) traced over the omegas singed brows.  “She said there would be no scaring, which is fortunate.” He added.  
  
“I see, has he woken at all since I was last here?” Thor returned, taking a seat in his mother’s vacant chair. She had scarcely left her youngest side since his return.   
  
The brunet nodded, combing his fingers over the raven curls on the pillow. “He has, his words however made little sense. He begs for someone called Bruce. Cries for him even, I have inquired with mother to see if she knows an alpha here by that name. She has heard of none.”  
  
Thor inclined his head, “Yes, we think Loki was sheltering with someone else for a time. Perhaps a sorcerer who handled the beast or a hermit who like wise hid from the monster. We saw no signs of the man, perhaps the beast killed him and that is who Loki mourns so for.”   
  
“I see, that is unfortunate. I had hoped Loki would find some peace.”  
  
The elder male let out a weary breath, “I promise you he will brother, and Fandral is a good man and cares for Loki.”  
  
Balder scowled folding his hands in his lap with a sudden annoyed air, “Fandral is a dog who cannot keep his leg down. You see him as your friend and true he has fought for Asgard and is not a horrible man, but as an alpha?” the beta crossed his arms. “He lacks completely.” On the other hand, perhaps that was Balder’s own bruised ego for being bedded and passed over simply because he was a beta and Fandral wanted to fill his house with children.  
  
“I only want what’s best for Loki. He needs an alpha to care for him and I trust Fandral, please understand...”  
  
“Please nothing, if you think I’ll stand by and allow you to pass Loki off after he has been so damaged, you are as foolish as those you call friend. You are not Chief yet Thor, you can not simply make choices for this family or this village.”   
  
Before the two’s argument to grow the drape to the entry pulled open and Frigga entered the chamber. Her presence instantly silenced her children.   
  
The woman’s face loved grave with disappointment. “You bicker over him even now… something’s never change.”    
  
Both men lowered their heads in shame, even as adults their mother could cow them with a single disapproving glare. “Balder, do not speak ill of Fandral. He may not be my first choice for Loki or yours, but he had proven his worth by rescuing your brother. I will allow him to court Loki as soon as it is possible. Thor, Know that your brother will only bond when he wishes. Even if he never wishes to that is none of your concern. I will care for him as long as I am able even should he never find a home outside of this one. Have I made myself clear?”  
  
“Yes Mother.” They said in unison. Both men looking all the word like the little boys she once knew.  
  
For a moment she saw them there, all the times Loki was left sick in bed as a child. Balder staking up residence on the cot slowly braiding his ill brother’s hair and making up stories to entertain the child. Little Thor going back and forth with bowls of water or little food items, beaming happily to provide for his younger siblings. Things were so easy then when she could still shelter them all in her arms at once. Protecting them from the world. She couldn’t do that now.   
  
“Good, now...Thor, Jane is looking for you. Go and tend to her darling. Balder I would like for you go and see Eir, I need some clean bandages and salves for Loki.” She shooed them both with her hands telling the two out on their tasks.  The silence following their exit was a calming one. She sat at her youngest bedside and kissed Loki’s forehead. “Rest my baby, mother’s here.”

* * *

  
Loki slipped in and out of the haze. Was this a dream? Had he died? No,… he wasn’t that lucky and he’d felt this odd sense of painful slumber before. He wasn’t dead he was in Asgard.   
  
Close enough.  
  
Through the clouds of confusion, he heard voices. The gentle songs of his mother and the regal sounding tenor of his elder sibling. Balder had come back for him, that was nice, even if he had felt abandoned when the older boy left the village years go. That didn’t seem to mater as much right now. Then of course there was Thor, great oaf he was… he wanted to hate him  though. He wanted to strangle him with his bare hands.   
  
The one voice that surprised him came in the dead of night. The chair at his bedside would creak and then silence would fall again for a time. Then a hand would gently take his, one that was broad and worn with age.   
  
“There was a time, that I could hold you with one hand. You would cry in the night and I would comfort you. Then one day you stopped smiling at me and it broke my heart. Perhaps… I should have seen that it was your broken heart that stopped your smiles. I never loved your brothers more or less, just differently.” Odin’s voice was soft and deep. Drifting to his ears and dredging up memories.   
  
Memories Loki didn’t want, both good and bad. Nights when he would cry because his father took Thor and Balder with him instead and Loki was left home with mother. He wanted to go to, he wanted to feel important. Memories when he was scolded for acting out. Yet Thor could fight, and Balder could be rude. He remembered other things to, when he was sick as a little child and his father would sneak him sweets.  Holding a finger to his lips and telling him not to tell mother.  Did he ever do that for Thor?   
  
Loki didn’t think so.   
  
“Come back to us son.” Odin said. Kissing the back of Loki’s hand before leaving. 

* * *

  
  
When the omega prince finally woke, he felt weak and sore. Loki struggled to sit up, his limbs were stiff from disuse, and somehow he managed it.  
  
“Oh thank the gods…”   
  
Loki lifted his eyes to see his mother standing in the entryway. Her eyes wide and shining with tears. He did his best to offer her a smile, though he supposed it must look a fright when she rushed forward. Warm soft hands touching his face as she cried happily.   
  
“My darling, my sweet boy. I thought I had lost you.”  She said kissing his forehead and pulling him to her chest. He managed to wind his tired arms around her waist.   
  
Loki had missed this. The smell of her hair and the sound of her voice, when he was a child he would have nightmares of her death. Wondering if he could live the rest of his live with out her presence had terrified him.   
  
“I was never lost mother, I was just…away.” He said to sooth her. Maybe it was to sooth himself as well. Because now, even in the bosom of his mother - embraced with love and welcomed home.   
He felt so lost.   
  
“Thank the gods your brother found you and killed that horrible monster.”  
  
Her words felt like a knife in his chest. ‘Killed’, Loki choked back a sob. He had wanted to believe that was a lie, but then… he thought the fire had taken him as well. Thor must have gone back for him, and if his brother had gone back, he must have also assured that Hulk was dead. Thor Odinson was never one to lie, that was Loki’s talent.   
  
“Shhh.. it’s alright you’re safe now.” She mistook Loki’s tears for those of one who had lived through great suffering. “ You’re safe, I promise you.”   
  
She promised many things, a lot that Loki had stopped listening to. He just sat there feeling heavy and numb. He needed to get up, he needed to get out of this room and find Thor. He needed to look in his brothers eyes and see the truth.   
  
Loki forced his way out of bed on trembling limbs. His mother trying to lead him back to bed, telling him he was not ready but the taller omega would have none of it. He slowly pulled on a robe and threw back the curtain separating his bed space from the rest of the home. Stumbling down the hall, he saw his brother Balder entering. The elder looked to him with surprised eyes before rushing to his side.   
  
“You are very foolish you know, to be wandering around like this.” The elder covered his surprise quickly enough, masking his features is calm indifference. All the while Balder slid his arm behind his brothers back to keep the omega from falling.  
  
“I need to speak to Thor. There is something I need to ask him.. I need to know if it’s true.”  
  
The brunette rolled his eyes, “Do not concern yourself about Fandral, all  you are required is to give the braggart a chance to court you. You do not have to accept anything or agree to anything beyond that.”  
  
That was news to Loki, not that he was surprised that a deal like this would have been put in place. Thor had been keen on that match for sometime. Fandral was a warrior of the same caliber and in Thor’s eyes the only one worthy enough. However, briefly in their youth Thor had tried to push Sif to courting Loki, however the two of them fought more often than not.  “I just need to see him, will you take me to him?”   
  
“Balder do not take him from this house.” Frigga put her foot down now on this nonsense. “He is still weak and I will not have him catching his death in the cold.   
  
“I enjoy the cold” Loki mumbled.  
  
“Enough! Back to bed with you, I’m an old woman and I can not have this fear from you throwing your life away carelessly Loki!”   
  
“Do you think I ran to the altar before?” Loki snapped, he knew he shouldn’t have but he couldn’t help it. “That was not my choice you recall. However I would gladly run back to it now!”   
  
He knew it hurt her by the look on her face and the tears welling in her eyes.   
  
“Brother?”   
  
Balder turned to see Thor enter, one of the handmaids must have gone to fetch him. The brunette took his out, “Thor, take Loki. I’m going to tend to mother.”   
  
The tall slender brunette handed off his younger brother to his elder brother. Brushing passed Loki with purposeful footsteps to steer their mother way to her own chambers, murmuring softly to her.  
  
When Thor offered a helping arm Loki pulled away, he’d rather cling to the stonewalls for comfort. “Tell me.”   
  
“Brother, I’m glad to see you well I..”  
  
“Shut up! Just shut up, tell me the truth. Did you …” Loki felt the tremble run through his body. “Did you kill him, is he dead.”  
  
Thor smiled placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder, mistaking the trembling omega’s rage for fear. “Aye, the monster is dead. You have nothing to fear.”  For all Thor knew, the monster was dead.   
  
  
Loki straightened himself as best he could, drawing his shoulders back and squaring his stand though he felt his stomach rebel. “How dare you.”   
   
“What?” Thor didn’t understand.  
  
He saved Loki so why? Why was he so angry?   
  
“I SAID HOW DARE YOU!” Loki’s hand shot out striking his brothers cheek hard.   
  
The blonde hadn’t been expecting it and his head snapped to the side with the slap.   
  
“HOW DARE YOU TAKE HIM FROM ME!”  Loki screamed, his whole body shaking with pain. His vision blurred  as the tears breeched cascading down his face. Bruce.. sweet kind Bruce..  
  
Thor looked upon his brother in the throws of hysteria, of course, it made sense now. “Brother, you’re still ill. That monster had hold on your mind, it is dead now. Soon you will be able to see clearly again and you can reclaim your life. Please..”   
  
Loki pulled away moving away from any comforting touch the alpha may offer. “NO. I want nothing of this life and I am not mad. For the first time I was clear, completely whole with the world. I told you and you never listen. You killed him, a noble good alpha and you slaughtered him like a dog!” The omega tumbled to his knees.  
  
When Thor tried to right his brother Loki struck out at his hands and screamed.    
  
“DON’T YOU TOUCH ME!”  
  
The shouting drew Balder and one of the handmaids back to the scene. Loki curled against the wall screaming hysterically with Thor hovered near but not dare touching. The elder blond looked to his other brother with saddened eyes. “I…I do not know how to help him.”  
  
“Just go. Loki is unwell as you said, I believe you have done enough.” Balder said motioning to the handmaid to fetch a healer as he pulled Loki from the floor and against his chest. The omega clinging to him weeping as broken words became lost in the pitching sobs.


	19. Chapter 18 - Nothing left

He could still here Bruce’s voice, if he closed his eyes and blocked everything out. If he cleared his mind completely and just focused on the calm melodic patterns of the alphas speech – it was as if he was still there, still alive.  
  
“You’re very good at this.” Bruce said as they measured out and mixed different ingredients for a tonic. It was something to help expectant mothers with morning sickness. Bruce said it sold well at market.  
  
Loki beamed under the praise, “The omegas in Asgard gather in the meeting hall once every season to prepare a large meal for the entire village. This isn’t so different from cooking.”  
  
“Not everyone can cook.”  
  
Bruce always praised him, made him feel valued. Even over something as small as mending things or aiding him in his tasks. There were other things too; Bruce always wanted to teach him things. Always thought Loki was smart enough to do anything. Most of all Bruce never felt the need to choose for him.  
  
It seemed like that’s all anyone wanted to do; they all thought they knew him better than he knew himself. Loki was done with that, done with them- good intentions or not he was finished dancing to their tune.   
  
He was done with everything. There would never be another man like Bruce, he was special because he understood what it was like to be looked down on and singled out. They had something that went deeper than a bond. It felt like their very souls were tied to one another. Now that line was severed and Loki was left to wander alone, to live half a life.  
  
There was no joy in this, living and breathing just felt like a chore. He wanted to go back to those beautiful dreams of warm nights and rough hands on his skin. That dry sense of humor, the way the corners of his eyes crinkled when he smiled. Loki even missed Hulk, Bruce was far too hard on his alter self. The giant was noble and brave, yet he was also like a child without a mother just looking to be held and understood. Now he would never be understood.  
  
That knowledge burned inside of the omega, it created a hollow pit that filled with cold until it spilled over and spread through him. It weighed him down like a pocket full of stones. 

* * *

  
“He will not eat, I’m not even sure if he sleeps.” Frigga looked worn as she spoke. Her child was slipping away before her very eyes.   
  
Eir sighed; the healer was at her wits end. “There is no more I can do. His mind is clouded and that is not something tonics can heal. I have gone to Lady Hela and she has refused my counsel. Like wise, she had denied her student from giving aid. I am sorry Frigga, I truly am.”  
  
“Then I am to watch him die! Would the gods be so cruel to return my child to me only to take him away again?”  
Odin stepped behind his wife and tried to comfort her, but the omega shook out of his arms. “Frigga, calm yourself please…”  
  
“NO! This is your fault! This is the fault of your fathers Gods! This would have never happened in Vanaheim!”  
  
“Stay your tongue wife! You treed closely to blasphemy” His warning fell on deaf ears.  
  
Frigga had rage and pain in her eyes. “Then let it be blasphemy, I have prayed to your gods and left my home. I gave you children only for you to give them away. Is the faith of your people, the control this faith gives you…worth more than our son?”   
  
Odin did not have an answer for her, “Lady Eir, thank you for coming but we need a moment to discus this. Alone.”   
  
The healer nodded and hurried away, knowing better than to cause a further rift.   
  
Once they where alone the chief reached out trying to take his omegas hand. Frigga began to fight the touch but found herself turning toward her alpha. For all his stubbornness, she still remembered him from his youth, smiling and loud. The way he tied so hard to win her favor to the point of making himself look like a fool. Anything to make her smile.    
  
“There is nothing I can say to undo this terrible thing. I wish I had the same power over the illness that plagues Loki as I do over my warriors. I to have found myself calling to the Norns to hear me, the gods to bless this house. I wonder if it is my own sins and the sins of my father that blacken our door.” His voice choked clinging to her.  “Forgive me; I have been a father much like mine when I should have been better.”   
  
“You could make her… the priestess. Surely that is with in your reach?” Frigga looked up, her tearful eyes shining with hope.  
  
Odin knew Hela answered to only the gods, “I will have a word with her.”   
  
Frigga turned away wiping her eyes, “Yes, then he will be well. He will be.” 

* * *

  
  
Others had come to see Loki while he slept, and now that the omega was awake and fading, Frigga felt it more important to have Loki surrounded by his sound-minded friends. As few they maybe.   
  
It had been months since the sacrifice, since Pietro and Steve had heard Loki’s voice. Both had stopped in shortly after their friends return to offer kind words to his family. Still that had not felt nearly enough; Steve had ‘kindly’ warned Fandral not to harm his friend. To which the newly bonded omega’s alpha - Tony, had a great laugh over.  Stark had clapped the other alpha on the back and said ‘the feisty ones are the best, but seriously don’t fuck this up or I’ll let him kill you.’   
  
They had heard about Loki’s slow recovery and since steady decline. Thor had said his brother was broken of mind but the omegas found that hard to believe. As stubborn and proud as Loki was it would have taken intense torture to break that. Steve admitted he thought Loki would have killed himself rather than undergo such a thing.  Still, they only had the words of others to go on.   
  
Until now.   
  
Frigga welcomed them in, smiling sadly, as she kissed their cheeks in greeting. “Thank you boys. Pietro, how are the pups?” She asked leading them.   
  
“Good, Nathaniel is getting big. I think perhaps next summer Clint and I may try for one of our own. I think I’m ready now with so much practice.” Pietro smiled taking a cup of offered tea.   
  
Steve also took a cup gratefully, though his eye lingered down to the bedchambers.   
  
“Speaking of little ones, I hear congratulations are in order Steven.” Frigga’s voce drew the young mans attention.  
  
The blond blushed softly, smoothing a hand over his tunic to rest under the small bump that showed more so on his thin frame. “Thank you. It was quiet the surprise.”   
  
Frigga nodded setting down her cup, “In my homeland it’s seen as a good omen, a child conceived during a bonding heat is blessed by the fae of that season. Yours a child of harvest, good and strong. Anthony must be very proud.”  
  
“His father is.” Steve smirked; the truth was Howard had been fully against Tony bonding with such a weak omega. The surprise of Steve catching so soon had certainly shut the old man up.  
  
“I do hope that seeing the two of you will help Loki…” Frigga suddenly turned somber, “They are always your children no matter how old they grow, one day you will both understand that”  
  
They chatted a bit more before a handmaid came and told then Loki was dressed and awake, the young woman’s look of resignation spoke volumes.   
  
When Steve and Pietro entered the small bedchamber, they saw their old friend propped against a pile of pillows looking gaunt and pale. It hurt to see someone like Loki laid so low.   
  
“Ya gunna just sit there or say hello.” Steve tried, offering his crooked smile.  
  
Loki’s eyes drifted from the window over to his old friends, a shallow grin tugged at his lips. “I suppose I have become a poor host in my absence.”   
  
Pietro was less than subtle, instantly rushing the bed and hugging Loki. Whimpering and slinging to the older man.  It made Loki smile a bit more though, patting the silverette back. “Enough of that now, I’ll not have you snotting on my shoulder like some pup.”  
  
“Speaking of pups… Steven dear are you aware you have been compromised. Traitor in my midst, I leave you alone and you go and get yourself breed.”  Loki gestured playfully to the younger man who now took a seat by his bed.  
  
Steve shrugged, “What can I say, moment of weakness. Stark is very persuasive when he wants to be, upside I’ll have a lot of experience in dealing with an over grown child, by the time this ones born.”   
  
Loki reached out and trailed his long fingers over the bump; part of him wondered what Bruce’s children would have been like. It broke his heart a little more.   
  
“Hey,” Steve said softly taking the outstretched hand. “Where did you go just now?”   
  
Loki blinked out of his thoughts to find his two friends staring at him concerned. “I… They have told you that I am mad correct. Surely my behavior isn’t far from that.”  
  
Pietro snorted folding his arms, “You were always mad, this isn’t any worse.”   
  
“Well thank you for your candor,” Loki said dryly, “so I take it neither of you believe the drivel then?”  
  
“I know a broken heart when I see it, I also know your mind is wilderness unto itself and one not easily infiltrated.”  Steve commented crossing his legs. “I think you know exactly what you’re doing, what I want to know is why.”   
  
Always the forward one, Loki thought. “If I told you, you would not believe me.”  
  
The silver haired omega made a little sound of shock, “Come on! Look who you’re talking to!”  
  
Loki wanted to laugh, of course they would believe. He once thought the pair of them gullible but now… it was because they had faith, not the same faith that lead them to pray and wring their hands. A faith that made them keep going, that made Steven carry his child knowing how weak his body was, that made Pietro raise children that were not his with as much love as if they were - something most omega in the village would not do. His little misfits were exceptions to the rule. “Very well, the monster… is not a monster. He is a man, was a man… a wonderful man.” His voice cracked as he preceded to tell his friends about Bruce, about how the alpha had cared for him; shared with them the healers curse; and confided in his friends about the love he felt for the man.   
  
“Now he is dead, Thor … all he could see is his cause and all his lackeys could see was following him. Bruce was not the beast that he became from time to time, and nor was Hulk the monster we thought. They were simply… the product of rage and the hunger for power. I wanted to stay, I wanted… I wanted him.” Loki’s eyes glistened as tears slowly streaked his face.   “I didn’t even get to say goodbye.”  
  
“If you could… say goodbye, would it help?” Pietro asked, grasping at straws to try to make his friend feel better.  “Perhaps, we could have a ceremony for him, for your Bruce to send his spirit on?”   
  
Loki shook his head; he didn’t even know what Bruce believed in, what funeral rites the man would have even wanted and he doubted that would help.  
  
“What if we took you home, and yeah I know this isn’t home for you anymore. The way you talk about that place you two shared, that’s your home.” Steve said laying his hand on his friends blanket covered knee, “You could get something of his, a keepsake. I keep a hairpin of my ma‘s. It helps when I miss her to have it close by, feels like she’s kinda with me.”   
  
“Perhaps, but there is no way that Thor would allow me to leave.”   
  
The small omega smirked, blue eyes sparkling. “Who says he’s gatta know?” 


	20. Chapter 19 - The quiet traveler

Bruce had a plan, he just hoped it would work.   
  
First, he set to building a simple handcart, nothing fancy but a style he had seen used by minor apothecaries use. It would be enough to look legitimate and who knows, he make get some use out of it after all of this. Next, he stocked the cart with goods typical of what he would take to market. The guise would get him in the gates; it was trade season with the cold coming on quickly.  A traveling merchant would not turn an eye.   
  
He just hoped he would get to Asgard in time. The fact that Loki said he would have his next heat come mid winter, weighed on Bruce. If Loki’s family intended to have him bonded that would likely be when they would do it. Using the Omegas need against him, Bruce wanted to believe things such as that no longer happened, but that would be asking a lot. Arranged bonds were common enough, especially enough families with power.    
  
The memory of the blond alpha, who bragged about taking Loki, made Bruce bite his tongue to stamp down the anger. Hulk was restless and sulking, the giant wanted out. That wasn’t going to help them now though.  
  
“It has to be me now; I can’t run anymore or hide behind you. I’m not saying I don’t need you, just let me do this.” Bruce said, closing his eyes and breathing in deep. The crisp air clearing his head and calming his nerves.   
  
**For Loki**  
  
 _For Loki_

* * *

“Alright, keep your strength up. You have to eat and rest, give your mother some peace and they won’t watch you so closely.” Steve outlined the plan; Loki would behave normally as if he was ‘free from the beast’. Give them everyone what they wanted, after a few days of rest he would be ready to make the trip.   
  
“I’ll take a late super to the archers on the south wall, Clint and the others can’t resist my stew. They will be so distracted they won’t notice anything but there full bowls and the fresh bread.” Pietro assured.   “You will have to ride fast because once morning comes if your not back we won’t be able to hold them off long.”   
  
Steve wanted to go with Loki but the elder omega refused, stating it would be unsafe for the omega in his condition. Not only would that but the cold night air be hard on Steve’s lungs.    
  
“ I’ll come get you just before the night watch begins so be sure you tell your mother you don’t want to be disturbed after the evening meal. If she thinks you’re catching up on your rest you should be in the clear through the night. From there we’ll go to the stables.”  
  
Loki agreed to the plans easily, even if he did lie to some extent when he said he would be back by morning. “I’ll take Sleipnir; he’s fast and will let me push him farther than most riders. I know the way even by moonlight; it should make it before dawn and with luck be back before noon. It is not odd for me to sleep so late in the day anyway.” He said waving off any concern.   
  
His friends were so happy to help him, he felt guilty for lying to them. Loki had no plans to return though, or even go to the cave, he just hoped when the truth revealed itself that his friends would forgive him. 

* * *

  
  
The road to Asgard was a long one, especially when pulling a cart. Still, Bruce had appearances to keep. A traveler on foot would have been too suspicious. Right now Bruce Banner looked like the least suspicious thing in the word. Just a stout man with round cheeks and his salt and pepper curls. A friendly smile and gentle tone, he was the picture of not treating.  Had it not been for his scent he might have been mistaken for a beta.

He traveled through the night, never once considering the fatigue that nipped at his bones urging him to stop. The quicker he arrived the quicker he could leave. The plan was thin… shoty really but maybe it would work. He would go to Asgard and then seek Loki out, make there ‘chance’ meeting very public. Being an alpha with a skill and trade should be enough to appeal to the omegas family. Added to that Loki would be keen on the match. He might have to linger in the village for a short time, a small price to pay.   
  
All he had to do was keep a handle on the other guy and play nice with Loki’s family until they could ‘relocate’ never to be seen again. That was a viable plan right?  
  
“I’m so screwed…”   
  
Hulk suggested smashing everything and taking Loki, this was accompanied by fanciful imagines of the omega swooning and falling rose petals for some odd reason. That was defiantly not going to happen. 

* * *

  
  
Loki took a deep breath, his mother was so happy and that hurt… lying to her like this. It was for the best, it wouldn’t be like the last time. This time he was clear and determined, he had his cup of happiness and now it was gone. Having tasted that joy didn’t make him bitter, but he knew that he’d never have it again.  Sure, he thought of the alternative - he could continue to make his mother happy. He could allow Fandral to court him and accept what the alpha offered. Loki was capable of accepting quite a lot; he could smile graciously and play the part just as he had these past few days. However, he didn’t want that hollow existence. He missed the rain through the trees and the smell of the forest.   
  
The alternative was the life of a kept man, mending leathers and cooking meals for an alpha he did not love. Raising children he did not want, he wouldn’t even be able to blame any babes he might whelp. They would be innocent of who their father was. Yet the idea of it made Loki sick. He dreamed of sitting by the fire with a sleeping child in his arms, fair strawberry blond hair and creamy skin. Nothing like him, having to force a smile each day would be like dying slowly.    
  
Even if Loki was able to do these things, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Saying goodbye to Bruce wasn’t enough, he wanted to be with him.   
  
  
Tiny pebbles popped against the window boards drawing the ravenette out of his daydreams.   
  
“Let’s go!” Steve whispered 

It was time; Loki looked down at his lap at the folded parchment. This was right, he could do this.   
  


* * *

  
  
“Who goes there?”  The guardsmen called at Asgard’s main entrance.   
  
The merchant lifted his hood offering a friendly smile. “Hello! Forgive me for the late hour, but you know how it is - have to sell and trade my wares before winter hits.” Bruce laughed motioning back at the cart.   
  
The guard looked him over before approaching, “Your right it is late and these woods are dangerous to bee traveling alone. Where is your convoy?”   
  
Convoy…shit. “I missed their departure, my omega …ah…you know.” He fained a shy smile   
  
“Ha! Yeah that’s always the truth isn’t it?” The guard grinned, “So then merchant what exactly are you bringing in?”  Anther guard’s attention perked stepping closer.   
  
“I’m a healer, salves and medicines mostly.”   
  
The two men nodded to each other, before one signaled to the gatekeeper. Come into the main court, you can store your cart there until morning. Do you have any weapons on you?”  
  
 “Just a small dagger, I’ve been lucky not to meet any bandits on the road,” Bruce said gesturing to the small sheath at his hip.   
  
The guards took the excuse, one leading the way and the other following behind the cart. 

_That was easier than I thought._   
  
**Omega not safe here…**  
  
 _Well it’s not as if I’m a escaped murderer… and there are two of them._  
  
 **One hulk enough.**  
  
 _Down boy._  
  
“You say you’re a healer?” One of the guards looked familiar, that’s when it hit him. This man was with the party that took Loki; this was the man that set the fire.   
  
Bruce fought back the growl in his hindbrain, “Yes, well I am not formally trained but have picked up things along the way.”  
  
Hogan looked the stranger over, he seemed harmless enough and the man had a variety of wears some of which he’d not seen even in Lady Eir’s home. “I know someone may wish to meet with you, he has a brother who has been ill. If you could spare the time I can lead you to the main hall he would be there.”  
  
“Sure, hopefully they have warm food in this hall.” Bruce chuckled to keep the conversation light.  Following along the streets to a long log hall.   
  
  
Inside the glow and warms of the light accompanied with the sights and smells of merriment was almost an overload. The guard led him to a table in the back of the hall where a small group sat, faces Bruce had seen before, the three alphas and Loki’s brother Thor, along with a brunette beta man whose features were very similar to Loki’s own. Including the resting glare the man was giving the rest of the table.  
  
“Badlr,” Hogan said offering a slight bow to the brunette, “There is a healer here he’s a traveler but he appears to have an extensive knowledge. I thought I would bring him to speak with you.”   
  
Bruce did not miss the fondness in on the alphas face; he wasn’t doing this for Loki. He was doing it to impress the brunette. Not that it appeared to be working.    
  
The slender man stood gracefully, “Thank you, Thor… have fun with your….friends.” The word dripping with distain, this was defiantly Loki’s other brother.  “I shall see you in the morrow, good evening.” Badlr excused himself approaching Bruce.  
  
He could see the resemblance even more now, the high cheekbones and piercing eyes, though Baldr’s were blue they had that same intense gaze. “So then healer, it would seem we have much to discuss. Tell me, what do you know of madness?”   
  
  
  
  
  



	21. Chapter 20 - Farewell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's going to be 2 more chapters after this, and an epilogue. Ready your tissues!

Sleipnir thundered through the forest at a fierce pace. The horse and his rider case a shadow under the moon as they threaded through the trees. Loki’s white-knuckle grip made the leather reins cry out in his grasp.   
  
Faster  
Faster  
Faster  
Yet there was no hurry; the destination would remain a fixed place it would be there because he had no limit. He wasn’t going back so why did it matter. He couldn’t slow though, that need of the omegas thrumming heart matched with the stallions hove beats.   
  
Faster  
Faster  
Faster  
  
The wind whistled pasted his ears, its cold bite bringing the blood to his cheeks. It felt like every mile grew colder still. It should not have been this cold this time of year, yet the breath was billowing out of the steed’s nostrils like plumes of smoke. The cold seeped in and made the omegas bones ache, he wondered as if the power of the beast beneath the saddle would shatter him like glass.  Perhaps he was already shattered - fragmented on some deeper level that surpassed all imagination. The pieces were sharp and slicing through skin and bone, leaving him as little more than vapor. That’s what it felt like.   
  
Like being a ghost in skin.   
  
Loki remembered when he was just a boy, he had gone out in the night after the first heavy snow he wanted the pure white to swallow him up. It had been just after his first heat. He felt so disconnected from his own body that it had been frightening. Everything had burned and ached with want; all the while, his mother held his hand and kept a cool rag to his face. She spoke softly and told him it would pass. She told him it was body become thing something new. ‘Think of the butterfly may darling, when they crawl from their cocoons with such beautiful wings.’ she said.  He didn’t feel beautiful when it was over, he felt disgusting as he lay there on his cot in a puddle of sweat and slick fluid the leaked from between his thighs. It was embarrassing to rut against the furs and cry in front of her. ‘It’s natural, one day when you’re ready you will understand.’ she soothed.  Loki never wanted to understand.  
  
He had gone out into the night and striped off his robe, lying in the snow under the stars. It had been so cold that it burned him. What a strange sensation, for cold to burn, he thought. His then childish eyes looked up into the night sky and traced the points of light - creating pictures and dreams. He prayed to the gods of the temple to take him away from here, to make him a fae in the gardens of Vanaheim or even a butterfly of the springtime. Anything other than what he was. Loki never knew how he came to wake in his bed, alive. If just barely. He remembered closing his eyes in the snow and the sinking feeling of death, yet he did not die.   
  
Now as the omega road, he was happy he had not died then. He would have never known Bruce if he’d perished in his youth, despite the pain that gripped him now he was happy to have felt it. It meant that he knew what it was to truly live. Even if it was only for a short time.   
  
The farther into the wood the omega road, he began to see the signs of fire. The char of the trees and where the earth began to grow black. He stopped the horse and contemplated his next move. Loki had planed to go to the lagoon, the place where he had promised to hide. The cavern behind the falls would become his tomb…yet…now he didn’t think he could. Not yet, not until he saw the truth of it up close. He needed to stand in the place of his lover’s death and morn his alpha. Bruce deserved that much. 

* * *

  
  
Bruce spoke to Balder at length; it seemed that the beta was not entirely convinced of Loki’s ‘madness’.  
  
“The last few days he had down well, eating a bit more and sleeping much, yet I see in his eyes the lie. You see my brother had always been one that acted just so for his audience. The face he shows our mother and brother is not the face he wears alone. I have watched him when he thinks no one can see. He is broken but not of his mind, rather I think his heart.”  
  
“A broken heart isn’t an illness you can treat.” Bruce said looking out night lighted bit by bit. “I understand why other people would see this and mistake it for hysteria. Omegas are often labeled as far more fragile then they truly are. Madness becomes a catchall for any disagreeable behavior.”  
  
The brunette nodded in agreement “You are unlike most Alphas, healer, what did you say your name was?”  
  
“Bruce.”  
  
Balder’s brows twitch subtlety, Bruce… “I see, the dawn is approaching. I do not think my mother would be disagreeable if I should bring you into our home that you may take a short rest before tending to my brother. Would that be satisfactory ?”   
  


* * *

  
  
Loki diverged at the path and road farther east to the burned down grove, it would take longer but it didn’t matter. He needed this, Steven  was right - he had to say goodbye.   
  
He dismounted outside the grove, with all the downed trees it would be to dangerous for the horse. The last thing he wanted was for the faithful animal to be harmed in this selfish quest. Loki  planed to send Sleipnir back once he reached the lagoon, the horse was smart and could find his way home. Of course when the stallion appeared sans rider Loki knew it wouldn’t be long, his friends would know and then his family. They my try and stop him but none would know of the location of the hidden spot. If they managed to find him, it would be too late. He reasoned because of this he could take his time.  
  
Climbing over downed branches  and wading through the ash left behind was almost cathartic,  when he came to the clearing at the fires center Loki dropped to his knees. His hands and legs now coated in ash. Part of the omega wondered with a macabre fascination - if the ash was all from the fauna, could it be what remains of his lover.   
  
He lifted his blacken palms to the cold moonlight, studying how the soot settled into the lines on his skin. The day he was sacrificed the lady Hela had painted strange lines in ash on his body. The omega brought his fingertips to his cheeks, smearing thick black lines over his pale skin. If this were all that was left of his alpha then his alpha would be with him until the end.   
  


* * *

  
  
When Bruce arrived at Loki’s home, the place was dark and silent. Its other residence bedded down for the night.   
  
“I’m currently sleeping in my elder brother former bed chamber,” Balder began, “Seeing as you a guest you may rest there and I will rest with my younger brother for the remainder of the night.”  
  
“I wouldn’t want to impose,” Bruce, offered, “It’ll be morning soon and I’m used to sleeping in far worse situations. One of the chairs here is fine really.”  
  
“Nonsense.” The beta waved him off and continued down the hall.    
  
Bruce waited for a few minuets, looking around at the darkened room. The heavy furnishings constructed from wood and carved intricately, the heavy stone and mortar of the hearth. Asgard was more advanced than his old village, it seemed like lifetimes ago since Bruce had been inside a proper house.   
  
However, the alpha was pulled from his revere by an agitated beta waving a scrap of paper. Behind the man was an older alpha and omega .   
  
Something was wrong.   
  


* * *

  
  
  
Loki began to shiver, he had spent much longer here than he intended. Lamenting in the quiet with his memories, he lifted his gaze to the horizon, the light of night now giving way to milky bluish haze of dawn.   
  
He had thought a lot about his life, about his past. He thought now it would not be right to sully the place of safety behind the lagoon. The thought of somehow taking something so special and turning it into something so dark seemed…wrong.  He couldn’t do that, that’s when is occurred to him. He should end his life where it should have ended all along.   
The omega stood, stumbling on his cold stinging legs. He had knelt there in the burned out grove for so long that pins and needles took over his sleep ridden limbs.  He staggered back through the remains of the trees to the place where he’d tied Sleipnir. Greeting the stallion with pat on the flank before mounting the saddle once again - albeit with less grace than before. He rode slower now, down the lightly trodden path to the forest altar.  
  
“This is were it began, and so shall it end.”

* * *

  
“Who is this man!” Odin rumbled, having been woken by his frantic son did not put the old alpha in a good mood. For all he knew this stranger had done something.  
  
“He’s a healer I brought him here to see to Loki, but that’s not important father! Loki is gone!” Balder thrust the paper forward, Frigga snatching it from her son’s hands.   
  
The omega scanned over the words before letting out a terrible sob, he nearly fainted before her husband caught her.   
  
Bruce being the kind of man he was came forward to help. “ Lay her down, deep breaths ma’m. What’s going on?”  
  
Odin relinquished his hold to the healer as he picked up the letter. “No..” The old alpha settled into a chair and covered his face. “WE thought. We thought he was getting better..”  
  
“You thought wrong! I’m going to get Thor and we are going to find him before that foolish boy can enact this horrible plan!” Balder was frantic, it was odd to see such a composed man crumble like this. It reminded Bruce of how irritated Loki could become, how he was the day he was taken.   
  
Bruce picked up the forgotten parchment and scanned over the words, his hear sinking more and more. 

* * *

  
  
_If you are reading thing,_   
  
_I ask that you do not follow me, respect me now even though you have done nothing of the sort in the past. Allow me this dignity in my final hours. I know you will not understand and some of you will morn and shoulder blame for this. Do not._   
  
_What I do, I do alone._   
  
_To my family, my dearest mother - I love you, I could never have asked for another but you. Your warmth and kindness have been a shelter to me and for that, I am eternally grateful. I hope I go to the place of your stories, a place of light and magic. If I do know that, I will be in every star about you and in the breeze of summer. I will always be with you as you will always be with me. Please forgive me for the hurt this may cause you, but I find I am not as strong as you thought me to be._   
  
_To my brothers, you have both been my protectors and at times my greatest adversaries. However, I do not require your protection any longer. Thor - be good to your omega, be good to the children you sire with her. Listen more and speak less, there are things you do not hear because your own arrogance will not allow it. Become the kind of Chief that I know you can be, become different from what others see in you. Listen to mother and remember me before you act rashly. Balder - thank you for showing me that I was more than my nature, for covering my lies as a child. I do not blame you for leaving, often times I wished I could have followed you. You were right, I did not open myself enough. I knew that and in the end, I found that I could. However brief that time was for me I was happy. Please know that I was.  I love you both._   
  
_To my father, there was a time I worshiped you. A time that you were a god with such broad shoulders, a god who would carry me and found favor in me. You are not god to me anymore; you are just a man who is flawed as I am flawed. I used to believe all alphas were like you, but they are not. I could tell you I hate you for sending me away for the sake of the village, but I do not hate you. Because I found out the truth then. So thank you.  I ask only that you end such barbarism, look into the stone eyes of your idols and see if you feel anything there, anything worth killing for._   
  
_To my little misfits, Steven you will be a good mother to your child. Just as precious Sarah was, if I should see her on the other side I will tell her what a fine man you have become. I will miss you, by the way. Loki can be a girl or boys name, incase you were wondering. Pietro, I used to think of you as my little borrowed pup. Now look at you. I am very proud of you. Both of you keep those fool alpha in line, they would scarcely breathe with out instruction. Do not morn me to much, though a shrine in the courtyard might be nice._

  
_Farewell, Loki._

* * *

  
This could not happen.   
  
**Stop omega! GO NOW!**  
  
Bruce dropped the letter and stormed out of the house, if anyone saw he didn’t care. He was so close he couldn’t lose Loki now.  He ran catching up to the gate where Thor and Balder where mounting their horses, suddenly the beta called out.   
  
“Bruce… It’s you isn’t it. You’re the one he belongs to isn’t it?”   
  
The alpha paused just at the tree line already pulling off his tunic. “I think… I think it might be the other way around.” He shouted back before running into the trees.  
  
Balder arms shot out grabbing the reins of Thor's horse. “Stop…”   
  
The elder looked to with wild eyes, “Brother what are you doing! We have to go!”   
  
“No, you were wrong.” Balder said his voice shaking with tears, a roared pierced through the forest ahead of them. “Don’t you see, we are all wrong? It isn’t up to us Thor, Loki has outgrown us. He out grew all of this, there is only one person who can end this.”  
  
Thor heard the monster in the wood, Loki was right… he was telling the truth all along.     
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	22. Chapter 21- I will seek you through the fog.

Loki entered the sacrificial grounds; it was just as he remembered only now blanketed in early morning fog. The omega dismounted, he pushed the horse away, shouting for it to go. The stallion snorted and stomped reluctantly before galloping away. He was alone now.   
  
“Everything as it should be…” he said softly making his way to the altar.   
  
“You know… for one that detests the gods of Asgard, you do make the effort to spill your blood for them.” a voice called through the haze.   
  
Loki pulled the dagger he had stored in his robes, “Who’s there show yourself! If you were sent here to stop me then you have wasted your time!” The omega turned the blade toward him, the deadly tip glinting over his heart.   
  
“So dramatic little prince.” The voice crooned as its owner showed herself.  
  
“Priestess Hela…” Loki was confused, the priestess scarcely left her temple and when she did, it was by behest of her chief. “Did my father send you?”  
  
The woman smiled lifting her hood and tugging at the ropes of her cloak, “Foolish boy, you think I answer to Odin? No, I do as I like and playing priestess affords me…liberties.” Her robes fell away and her body shimmered before his eyes.  
  
No longer did she bear the appearance on an old woman, now she was beautiful or at least half so -the right side of her face looked like a corpse. Upon her head outspread black antlers adorned in spider webs.   
  
Loki trembled looking at her, “Who are you. Really?”   
  
“I little one, and Goddess Hela of Helhiem. Queen of the dead, keeper of death it self. However, I also enjoy seeking out entertainment. Eternity can be such a long and tedious thing. Occasionally I will find - exceptional individuals who capture my attention. And by extension the attentions of others like me” She said steeping closer.   
  
The omega lowered the dagger to his side, “Goddess of death, so you have come to claim my soul. You may have it; I have no need for it any longer.”

Hela chuckled, “Oh no, while the offer is tempting I am not. I can not take what does not belong to me.”  
  
“I’m giving it to you; you are the keeper of the dead as you just said. I wish to die!”  
  
She stood before him, deadly looking widow spiders crawling through her antlers. Millions of tiny eyes staring down at him. “Your soul is no longer yours to give. That is what I find so curious. When I look inside you, I do not see the contained galaxies of your being, and instead I see a road. I see a tied string that binds you on a level beyond any other I have ever seen. Just as the mountains are anchored to the earth and feed into forest. As the ice melts to the streams and evaporates into the sky. Your soul has transcended beyond itself. Such a curious little thing you are.” 

* * *

  
  
Hulk bounded through the forest fallowing the familiar scent that carried through the wind. All the while Bruce going over in his mind were Loki would have gone.   
  
When the fail perfume of the omega grew muddled and lost in the scent of charged wood the giant whined, striking the ground in frustration.    
  
 _I can find him, it’s ok.. I can find him._   
  
**Bruce slow… Loki need..**  
  
 _Loki needs both of us, and I can get us there._  
  
The first few moments of coming back to himself were always the hardest but Bruce pushed himself.  Loki was not so sentimental that he would have returned to the cave, for a moment he thought the lagoon was a safe bet but then - Loki wouldn’t have done that either.   
  
“The altar.. It has to be the altar.” The alpha shook his head to clear the fatigue and began to run along the winding path. The light of morning filtering through the trees to guide his way. 

* * *

Loki leaned against the pillar he had once been chained to. “Why must you speak so, like my life is a fantasy. You are wrong, if anything my soul is a shriveled black thing that resides in a pit.”  
  
The goddess regarded him, such a pitiful sight for one so proud. “It would not be sporting to give away the secret just yet. You of all should know that mischief maker.”  
  
“This is no game,” Loki scowled,  “Leave me if you instead to mock me.”   
  
The goddess waved her skeletal looking hand and the broken stones and ivy wove together into the shape of a throne. She sat elegantly, her long gown draping and flowing like smoke. “ Mock? No, I simply want to see how this will end. I want to know if the pull of your protector is strong enough to save you. If a love such as this is as truly remarkable as it seems.”  
  
“Protector.” the omega scoffed. “You think Thor will ride in on his white horse and stop me as he always had… that is not love I assure you it is pride and grandiose ego.”  
  
“I am not speaking of your brother, you have had a protect for far longer than you realize. Both of you so damaged and untrusting that you have forgotten.” She said  twisting her fingers in the air, a black miasma flowing from her fingertips . The ball of dark energy sparked and swirled as it floated just above her grasp. With in its depths images flashed.   
  
Loki found himself transfixed on the other worldly object. With in it he could see himself, a lithe child of no more than 12 lying naked in the snow. His skin had taken on the pearly hue of death. Then out of the woods crept a creature about the size of a large man though it moves strangely dragging his knuckles along the ground every few paces. More than that it’s skin was the color of moss.  
  
“That cant be. Your lying.”

“Am I?” Hela said twisting the images with a roll of her ghastly wrist.  “You my little prince, were dead. Cold and lifeless there in the ice, imagine my surprise when I came upon the two of you. How gently your protector held you, as if you still had breath. Of course in those days he was alone, unable to speak with his other self as he is now. I granted him that gift for his innocence.”  
  
Loki watched as what only could be described as a smaller version of Hulk lifted his cold form against his broad chest. Large viridian finger gently caressed his cheek. Then the lady Hela appeared, startling the young giant. She raised her hands and appeared to speak to the creature.   
  
“I told him you were dead, I told him there was no need to treat you so delicately.” She supplied.  “I thought he may simply drop you and wander off, as monstrous things of little intelligence are prone to do. He did not.. Instead ..Well, you may see for yourself.”  
  
Hulks broad face scrunched in a frown and tears came to the creatures eyes, he held out Loki’s limp for to the priestess. “What is. I don’t understand”  
  
“He begged me, to make you wake. I found it..interesting.”   
  
The omega watched as the priestess took his adolescent self into her arms and hulk lumbered away into the wood. The image fading to black.  “You knew all along he wasn’t a monster, then why would you not speak up? Why allow these sacrifices to continue?”  He was angry, perhaps if she had not remained silent then Bruce would never had to live here alone.   
  
Hela banished the orb, “There is reason for everything and a plan even in the horror. I told you when the warriors first brought you to this place that your protector would show his face.”   
  
“My protector is dead.” Loki’s fingers wrapped tightly around the hilt of the dagger. “He was killed in these very woods, now you show me these things, what good are they? You say you do not wish to mock me- that this is meant to save me? You are cruel false priestess.”  
  
The goddess smiled, her long incisors glinting in the morning sun, “If I could not take your soul, why do you think I could take his?”

* * *

  
Bruce began shouting as he ran, he was close so close, “LOKI! LOKI PLEASE!”   
  
“He can’t die.. I can’t lose him.” 

His chest burned with the cold air and his bare feet ached as they where scored by rocks and burs. It didn’t matter though, he was close. Bruce could see the pillars and arches, the ivy that hung from the trees and there on the pavilion two figures. One was his omega, but the other… the other was something else entirely. Something that was not human, yet seemed familiar.   
  
**Omega in danger!**  
  
“LOKI!” 

* * *

  
  
Before the ravenette could ask, he hear someone shouting his name. Loki turned his head and the dagger clattered from his hand, there through the fog was his little healer.  
  
“ It would seem, your bond is stronger that I thought.” Hela said standing from her temporary throne.   
  
Loki was no longer listening, if this was a dream or another of the woman’s specters, he would take that chance. He dashed down the altar. “Bruce!”   
  
The alpha did not stop, when they came together, both men fell to there knees clinging to one another.   
  
“Tell me this is real… Please..” Loki choked on the words.   
  
“It’s real… I think, I know my feet really hurt and I really ruined another pair of leathers. Sorry I know you hate having to mend them.”  Bruce laughed looking the omegas face in his hands. “ You scared me, do you know that?” 

“I’m sorry I thought..”   
  
Bruce silenced Loki with a kiss, pulling away to breath and rest their brows together, “Never that Loki, you understand. Life especially your life is so precious. I would want you to live for me, to show everyone how much more you have to give. I love you.”  
  
“I love you, all of you.” Loki curls himself against his alpha, even in his taller stature he felt so small in the arms of the older man. Bruce had that strange ability to make him feel completely surrounded.   
  
The sound of slow clapping drew the lover’s attention. Bruce stood immediately standing between his omega and the strange being before him. He would let hulk out if need be.  
  
“Calm yourself healer,” Her voice…it was the woman from before.  “I do hope your first impression went well, considering there is no horde of fire and pitchfork wielding villagers at your heels I would assume so.”  
  
“Yeah well, thankfully one of Loki’s brothers is quick on the uptake. So, I’m guessing your not a priestess after all. By the look of things, I say not human.  So the question remains, what are you going to do with us now?” 


	23. Chapter 22 - The god of the Forest and the god of the Mountain.

The goddess looked upon the lovers with amusement in her eyes, “What should I do indeed. The little Alpha of the forest, a man with a beast in his heart. The Little omega that cheats death as much as he courts it. What shall I do?” She circled the pair, red glinting in her dark eyes, “Perhaps I could kill your both, turn your souls into might warriors to serve at my call for eternity.”  
  
Loki stood grabbing his alphas hand standing at his side rather than behind him.  
  
“No,” She said, her gaze following the length of their arms to the pairs joined hands. “Mortality is a thing of lesser men, what I have seen her is much more like that of the gods. The people of Asgard need new gods, gods that surround them from the spring to the winter. From the forest to the mountain.”  
  
“If you’re the goddess of death how can you give life?” Loki questioned  
  
Hela held out her hand and breath it the earth began to crack, from the crevasse began to grow a tree. “Life and death are not so different, directional breath my darlings. Yggdrasil like all tress grows from decay,” She said laying her human palm to the trunk of the now massive tree.  “Did not your Vanir mother teach you of the great tree?”   
  
“She did.”   
  
The pair looked up among the branches awestruck, blossoms opens and appeared to be filled with stars.   
  
“How is this possible…?” Bruce asked, having never been a man who prayed.  
  
“There are many realms, many worlds layer upon layer branch upon branch. Worlds where you Loki…are already a god and your alpha a warrior. Worlds in which you Bruce are a king who feared for his strength because your monster is you and you are one. Worlds exist in which you never meet, never love as you love now. Worlds in which you nearly kill one another. Yet death is the same everywhere.” Hela turned away her horns fading and skin becoming pail white. Her half-decade feature melting like an illusion leaving a young woman with her face painted like a skull.  “Though I may wear a different face and am called by many names. I remain just as Life remains.”   
  
Loki raised his chin in defiance, “I don’t want to be in another world, or in a terrible place where we would be apart.”  
  
“Then you will not,” Hela plucked a low hanging flower, it looked at though it was made of ice, “You will become more little omega, out of the ice that bore you to me. A god “The blossom crumbled in her hands and flew on a gust of air swirling around the omega.   
  
Loki gasped as his skin turned blue; his vision took on a crimson hue. At first, he was afraid but then. He had never felt so alive. The blue faded away just as swiftly as it came. “What did you do to me?”  
  
“Do? Little prince I gave you gift, and your Alpha; even now he is already blessed by Yggdrasil. He needs not my hand to grant that.” Death gestured to Bruce.  
  
The alphas skin flickered green, his scraps healing as if they had never occurred. The voice in head quieting, Hulk felt peace for once and all the words the beast could not fully understand came to him.    
  
“You are no longer like those you left behind, so use this. Protect this place from now till eternity fades to dust.”   
  
The earth rumbled around them and the two lovers held fast to one another, and in a flash of light, they were blinded left in a stinging silence surrounded by white. When the light faded away, they found the altar destroyed, the ground tilled and covered with wild flowers.  The stones crushed to dust and covered with age.  It was as if decades past in an instant and they remained.   
  
Gods of a new age, and though the lives of those they left behind where long since over. They would find new ones in their place, the world would continue to change but the place this hollow of forest at the foot of mountain remained the same, as if unseen by those who knew not were to look for it.   
There were times when travelers would pass by, pause, when they would feel the prickle on their neck of a cold breeze, and mistake it for teasing touch. Alternatively, perhaps it was.   
  
If they bothered to look they would see a man with light flowing from his fingertips, light as green as his smiling eyes. Mischief would never get old.   
  
Children who darted through the trees and climbed there branches would sometimes tumble when the eyes of their peers were turned away. Instead of striking the earth, they would feel something large and warm like a hand at their backs. If they opened there fear closed eyes they might see a face or a kindly man who say he was a doctor and clean there bruised knees before sending them on there way. Yet they turned to thank him - he would be gone.   
  
  
  
  
  



	24. Epilogue

Loki sat by the lagoon, steam rising from the water at a wave of his wrist to combat the cold chill that came with the December air. He looked off into the distance able to see the rise of the city towers, all metal and glass. “My they have lost their flare these days; I remember when craftsmanship meant something.”  
  
“Mother! Why cant we go were the humans are?”  His daughter called from where she was bathing, her elder sister rising through the smaller child’s hair.  
  
He smirked adjusting his fur cape, “Because my dear, they are monstrous little monkeys who have lost all decorum. They are covered in fleas and are ripe with disease.”  
  
“Loki don’t lie to them,” Bruce’s voce lit from the path, their son on his hip. The little boy stuck out his tongue making little noises of discontent.   
  
The omega placed a hand over his heart and gasped, “Me lie! Never dear…its not with in my nature.”  
  
“God of mischief!” The girls sang out together.   
  
The raven deadpanned on the giggling girls, “Traitors.”   
  
Bruce handed the toddler off to his eldest daughter. She sneered seeing the little one had a mess of berry juice smeared all over his face. The alpha sat next to his lover and watched their pups, “I saw them today, well- who they are this time around anyway.”   
  
Loki’s attention perked, he hadn’t gone closer to the edge of their hidden world in a long time. Last time he had been saddened to see the Great War the humans fought against each other. “Which ones, and you know you don’t have to keep checking for me. It’s been thousands of years. It’s not as if they would even know me, or I could go to them if I wished it.”  
  
Bruce smiled and nodded, draping his arm around his mate. “Because, they meant something to you. So I keep an eye out when I go out, Steve is better this time around, solider if the title is anything to go by. He found his way back to Tony.” Bruce then fished a worn newspaper from his cloak; on the cover was two men.   
  
Loki smiled to see his little misfit looking so strong and proud; it was a wedding announcement for a Steven Grant Rogers of Brooklyn New York, and Anthony Stark of Manhattan. “Shame, still couldn’t get away from the arrogant sod.”   
  
They shared a laugh and leaned against each other. “Thank you Bruce, you do take good care of me.”   
  
“It’s my job.”  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's a wrap folks! I hope you have enjoyed this fic. I enjoyed writing it. Fantasy is hard and i am ready to get down to some drama and modern life. So! with that said, the next Gamafrost Fic will be "The man upstairs" so! keep an eye out for that to drop in the coming weeks. Thank you for your support and i look forward to seeing you all at my next fic!


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